Joe Scarborough 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.

When I write legally, I try to write very plain, very vanilla, very clear.

I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass.

Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than anything else.

A writer should never be brief at the expense of being clear.

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.

When I teach writing, I always tell my students you should assume that the audience you're writing for is smarter than you. You can't write if you don't think they're on your side, because then you start to yell at them or preach down to them.

Writing for me is cutting out the fat and getting to the meaning.

And how is clarity to be achieved? Mainly by taking trouble and by writing to serve people rather than to impress them.

There are people who have tremendously important things to say, but they say it so poorly that nobody would ever want to read it.

There are writers who pour out words, concepts that sound really important but that basically say nothing. I always tried to be as concise as possible, all to try and reach everyone, but especially the simple people, those who needed to be reached more than anyone else.

There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.

Anyone can make an article longer; the skill is keeping it tight and lean.

He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do: and so should every man understand him, and the judgment of wise men allow him.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.

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.

One false word, one extra word, and somebody's thinking about how they have to buy paper towels at the store. Brevity is very important. If you're going to be longwinded, it should be for a purpose. Not just because you like your words.

Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.

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

You just can't make bad writing look good. But if you have good writing, you just say it, and it's almost done.

Why say 'utilize' when you can say 'use'?

Fine writing is a distinct disadvantage. So is unique literary style. They take attention from the subject