Michael Ondaatje Quotes

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.

True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.

One mistake with beginners in writing is, that they think it important to spin out something long. It is a great deal better not to write more than a page or two, unless you have something to say, and can write it correctly.

Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.

Good writing, and this is especially important in a subject such as economics, must also involve the reader in the matter at hand. It is not enough to explain. The images that are in the mind of the writer must be made to reappear in the mind of the reader, and it is the absence of this ability that causes much economic writing to be condemned, quite properly, as abstract.

Be brief, be pointed, let your matter standLucid in order, solid and at hand;Spend not your words on trifles but condense;Strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense;Press to close with vigor, once begun,And leave, (how hard the task!) leave off, when done.

The point of good writing is knowing when to stop.

I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

Aiming at brevity, I become obscure.

When I struggle to be terse, I end by being obscure.

The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you can't understand them. The best sentence? The shortest.

To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

Simple and to the point is always the best way to get your point across.

To say more, is to say less.

In a newspaper, you only have so much room. It teaches you the value of getting to the point, of not pampering yourself with your glorious writing. I've always been much more interested in one powerful sentence that stays with you. That's my style.

Say what you have to say in the fewest possible words.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.

If you cannot say what you have to say in 20 minutes, you should go away and write a book about it.

Say only a little but say it well.

Less is almost always better than more. Short words, short sentences, short speeches.

Never say more than is necessary.