W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Be brief. Above all things be brief.

All pleasantry should be short; and it might even be as well were the serious short also.

Never use five words if you can get away with one, eh? I've known dead men talk more than you do.

Conciseness is underrated

In giving advice I advise you, be short.

Brevity: To say at once whatever is to be said.

Shorth is better than length.

But the shortest works are always the best.

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.

Minimum information given with maximum politeness.

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

I don't like to repeat myself.

Tweeting has taught me the discipline to say more with fewer words.

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

Use half as many words and they'll hit twice as hard.

I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had the time to prepare a short one.

Brevity - the sister of talent.

As far as I'm concerned, if something is so complicated that you can't explain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway.

If you can't be smart or funny, be brief.

Speak on, but be not over-tedious.

Say what you have to say and the first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending - sit down.

Whatever you want to teach, be brief.

The best way to make a long story short is to stop listening.

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