Paul Graham Quotes

A genius knows how to make himself easily understood without being obvious about it.

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

Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself.

You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.

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.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

No man pleases by silence; many I please by speaking briefly.

I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.

Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

A rule to live by: I won't use anything I can't explain in five minutes.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

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

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

Say only a little but say it well.

Wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many words dilute and blur ideas.

Use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something.

The niftiest turn of phrase, the most elegant flight of rhetorical fancy, isn't worth beans next to a clear thought clearly expressed.

You can say a lot in a little time, if you stick to words of one syllable.

The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.

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 brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself.

Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

The perfection of style consists in the use of the exact speech necessary to convey the sense in the fewest words consistent with perspicuity, at the same time having regard to appropriateness and harmony of expression. Its greater excellencies are directness, accuracy, appropriateness and perspicuity.

Words are how people think. When you misuse words, you diminish your ability to think clearly and truthfully.