Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

Wordiness is a sickness of American writing. Too many words dilute and blur ideas.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

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.

The point of good writing is knowing when to stop.

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

Never be so brief as to become obscure.

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.

The shorter and the plainer the better.

Hard writing makes easy reading.

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

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

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

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

One false word, one extra word, and somebody's thinking about how they have to buy paper towels at the store. Brevity is very important. If you're going to be longwinded, it should be for a purpose. Not just because you like your words.

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

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

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

Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon.

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

If you cannot say what you have to say in 20 minutes, you should go away and write a book about it.

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

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