Fran Lebowitz Quotes

I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

My sweet spot as a writer and, especially, as an essayist is sub-1500 words.

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

I usually write very few stage directions. I think a lot of that is a waste of time. The art of screenwriting is in its terseness, saying a lot with a little. I have no patience when I read a script where the writer describes this guy and what he's wearing and his glasses and his hair.

Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say. Of course those who write short books have even less to say.

It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.

I'm tired of wasting letters when punctuation will do, period.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.

I liked the challenge of writing in a very concise structure in which both meaning and form are important.

Someone who can write aphorisms should not fritter away his time in essays.

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

I am trying to say it all in one sentence, between one cap and one period.

Long sentences in a short composition are like large rooms in a little house.

The best advice on writing I've ever received was from William Zinsser: 'Be grateful for every word you can cut.'

I have the exact opposite problem of every writer I've ever met: Every writer I've ever met writes things that are too long, and they have to edit them down.

I think precision in writing goes hand in hand with not trying to say everything. You try and say two-thirds, so the reader will involve himself or herself.

To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.

I think I'm succinct to the point of trying to write the two-word novel. Editing my work almost never means taking anything out but rather adding, because I'm always stripping down. I tend to under-write rather than over-write.

Twenty to one offend more in writing too much than too little.

True brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself.

I just write what I think is good and keep it at a thousand words.

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.

It ain't whatcha write, it's the way atcha write it.