Len Wein Quotes

Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.

To say more while saying less is the secret of being simple.

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.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

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.

My stories are very compact. I want them to say the most complex things in the simplest way.

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

Minimalism has a connotation of being reductive, and not in the best way. 'Brevetist' is a better term. I'm trying to be as concise as possible and still getting across to the reader. When information is delivered in that way, it is very satisfying to me.

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

Vigorous writing is concise.

But the shortest works are always the best.

Through an arbitrary problem, I had arrived at a tenet of good writing: brevity wins.

Say only a little but say it well.

Never say more than is necessary.

People who want to express themselves effectively can learn a lot from the hard-won concision of the copywriter.

They write them long because they can't write them short.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused -- in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible.

It has often been said there’s so much to be read, you never can cram all those words in your head. So the writer who breeds more words than he needs is making a chore for the reader who reads. That's why my belief is the briefer the brief is, the greater the sigh of the reader's relief is. And that's why your books have such power and strength. You publish with shorth! (Shorth is better than length.)

Let the reader find that he cannot afford to omit any line of your writing because you you have omitted every word that he can spare.

For effective communication, use brevity. Jesus said, 'Follow me.' Now that's brief! He could be brief because of all that he was that he didn't have to say.

I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily.

That's the beauty of short films; their strength lies in delivering a message creatively and simply.

I do try and keep my scripts quite economical.