Heywood Broun Quotes

Poetry had far better imply things than preach them directly... in the open pulpit her voice grows hoarse and fails.

the inferred is always more effective than the obvious.

A lot of people tend to chew up the scenery. I'm a firm believer in less is more, especially on the big screen.

Symbolism perhaps is a bit in your face, and I've tried my best to control that as best I can as I've grown older and thought that one could approach something with a little more subtlety.

What I like in a good author is not what he says but what he whispers.

The finest command of language is often shown by saying nothing.

Hyperbole engaged in consciously to achieve a desired effect can be, as we have noted, a useful rhetorical tool. Indeed, its use in this manner is sometimes called "exaggeration in the service of truth." However, there's much to be said for restraint of tongue and pen, and restraint refers not only to what we say but also to how we say it. It is possible, believe it or not, to be emphatic without indulging in overstatement; it is possible to be forceful without exaggerating.

And sometimes you can make your point better with comedy than you can through shouting about it.

Anytime I feel like I am beginning to explain the plot or characters too much my stomach churns. I like stories that let the characters speak for themselves and don't give you all the information.

I've always worked a lot with silence in my films. It forces the audience to concentrate on what they're seeing, because silence is pure emotions. It has no logic; it goes straight to the heart.

I don't believe in being loud. I find that stupid. Understated things work much better.

In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because--I don't know why.

True eloquence scorns eloquence.

A true masterpiece does not tell everything.

It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.

who can Perswade more Powerfully than Poets?

Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style.

rhetoric is will doing the work of imagination.

There is a truth and beauty in rhetoric; but it oftener serves ill turns than good ones.

And isn't it better really to leave things only hinted at?

You rely on a sentence to say more than the denotation and the connotation; you revel in the smoke that the words send up.

He who cannot exaggerate is not qualified to utter truth.

To this end, nothing is to be more carefully consulted than plainness. In a lady's attire this is the single excellence; for to be what some people call fine, is the same vice, in that case, as to be florid is in writing or speaking.

Fine declamation does not consist in flowery periods, delicate allusions of musical cadences, but in a plain, open, loose style, where the periods are long and obvious, where the same thought is often exhibited in several points of view.

One generalization that is supported both by research and experience is that effective two-way communication is essential to proper functioning of the leader-follower relationship.