Brevity

(276 votes)   The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826, Third President of the USA

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(149 votes)   Brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes.

William Shakespeare
1564-1616, British Poet, Playwright, Actor

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(110 votes)   It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar -- that I call an achievement.

Georg C. Lichtenberg
1742-1799, German Physicist, Satirist

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(105 votes)   Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

Marcus T. Cicero
c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician

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(95 votes)   Never be so brief as to become obscure.

Tryon Edwards
1809-1894, American Theologian

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(90 votes)   It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.

Ernest Hemingway
1898-1961, American Writer

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(84 votes)   Good things, when short, are twice as good.

Baltasar Gracian
1601-1658, Spanish Philosopher, Writer

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(79 votes)   The more you say, the less people remember. The fewer the words, the greater the profit.

Francois FTNelon
1651-1715, French Writer

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(78 votes)   Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

Marcus T. Cicero
c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician

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(76 votes)   I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already finished, and he sat down.

Edward O. Wilson

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