Theodore C. Sorensen Quotes

Never say more than is necessary.

I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily.

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.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

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

Be brief. Above all things be brief.

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.

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

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.

I say what I need to, not a whole lot more.

I believe most things can be said in a few lines.

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

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

I speak as simply as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence.

My favourite writers are always great storytellers, like Bruce Springsteen; I adore Bruce Springsteen. I feel like he doesn't beat around the bush, and he doesn't overcomplicate things. He puts things into layman's terms and tells stories that anyone can understand.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

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

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.)

It is very hard to be simple enough to be good.

The shorter and the plainer the better.

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

I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade.