Will Rogers Quotes

It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure.

They write them long because they can't write them short.

As far as I'm concerned, if something is so complicated that you can't explain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway.

Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

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

In labouring to be concise, I become obscure.

I speak as simply as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

Be brief, that the mind may catch thy precepts, and the more easily retain them.

Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.

Complexity is the enemy of clarity

Anything that can be put in a nut shell should remain there.

It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated.

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.

Simplicity is all. Simple logic, simple arguments, simple visual images. If you can't reduce your argument to a few crisp words and phrases, there's something wrong with your argument. There's nothing long-winded about 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité'.

Forget the complaints against complexity; instead, complain about confusion.

Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

To be honest everything goes over my head a bit.

I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.

Hard writing makes easy reading.

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.

I strive to be brief but I become obscure.

A rule to live by: I won't use anything I can't explain in five minutes.