Susan Minot Quotes

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

Say what you have to say in the fewest possible words.

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.

The shorter and the plainer the better.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

Never say more than is necessary.

I've really tried to strip my writing of as many adjectives and adverbs as I possibly can.

The best things - when I really feel that I'm communicating, and when I really feel that people are getting it - are simple, straightforward recipes. I think simple is the hardest to achieve because you don't have all those elements to hide behind.

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.)

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

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

Being able to write an idea down succinctly doesn't make that idea any better than one which rambles on a bit. It just comes to the point sooner.

I've always felt that some of my best lyrics are less than three minutes long, and it's great when you can do that - be succinct and get the message across in a simple, clear idea.

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

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

I've been accused of being a minimalist writer. I don't like a lot of verbiage in there.

Words easy to be understood do often hit the mark; when high and learned ones do only pierce the air.

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.

I've simplified much more in my writing. I say what I've got to say, not in metaphor.