Epictetus Quotes

Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously.

Less is always more. The best language is silence. We live in a time of a terrible inflation of words, and it is worse than the inflation of money.

To say more, is to say less.

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

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

Never say more than is necessary.

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

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

Always say less than necessary.

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 want to say less, and it's easier to say less.

Lyrically, 'less words mean more' is a pretty good rule of thumb. Try to cut out the fat and get to the meat of what you're saying.

Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.

Simplicity is the glory of expression.

I always feel that whatever isn't necessary shouldn't be in a poem.

I cut up loads. I always want everything shorter, shorter, shorter.

If you have to go back and spell-check the text you're about to send, you're saying too much.

Basically, less is more when it comes to film.

Some people are uncomfortable with silences. Not me. I’ve never cared much for call and response. Sometimes I will think of something to say and then I ask myself: is it worth it? And it just isn’t.

I have a talent for silence and brevity. I can keep silent when it seems best to do so, and when I speak I can, and do usually, quit when I am done. This talent, or these two talents, I have cultivated. Silence and concise, brief speaking have got me some laurels, and, I suspect, lost me some. No odds. Do what is natural to you, and you are sure to get all the recognition you are entitled to.

There is need of brevity, that the thought may run on.

Dress not thy thoughts in too fine a raiment. And be not a man of superfluous words or superfluous deeds.

In short stories it is better to say not enough than to say too much, because, because--I don't know why.

It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.

With few words, one can speak the truth.