Rick Rubin Quotes

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

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

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.

Brevity is a great charm of eloquence.

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

It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.

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.)

I am completely attracted to the idea of simplicity, or at least removing things that seem unnecessary when trying to get an idea out there.

Where questions of style and exposition are concerned I try to follow a simple maxim: if you can't say it clearly you don't understand it yourself.

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.

Why need I volumes, if one word suffice?

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

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

Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.

I still remember the first acronym I learned, BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. I still try to communicate that way. No reason to dance around getting to the point.

I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily.

I believe that things can be expressed very powerfully through simplicity.

Simple goes a long way.

I do try and keep my scripts quite economical.

There is need of brevity, that the thought may run on.

Simplicity of expression rather than complexity of form.

A parsimony of words prodigal of sense.

Uncommon things must be said in common words.