Maya Lin Quotes

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

Directing my own writing, I see that I talk way too much, and everything can happen much sooner, with much less said about it.

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.

It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.

Omit needless words.

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.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

For each detail I include, I throw dozens away. So I guess the first trick is to pick the right details, the most revealing details. Then I think one must simply write quick, clean, bright prose. For me, this means rewriting and rewriting: almost never adding, almost always cutting.

The most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible.

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.

Through an arbitrary problem, I had arrived at a tenet of good writing: brevity wins.

Never say more than is necessary.

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.

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

Be prepared to fall out of love with your words. I'm still too verbose at times.

Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

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

What's really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer.

I'm a big fan of editing and keeping only the interesting bits in.

You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.

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

If you really understand something, you can say it in the fewest words, instead of thrashing about.

Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the inessential than with inventing something new.