Tim Ferriss Quotes

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

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.

Most controversies would soon be ended, if those engaged in them would first accurately define their terms, and then adhere to their definitions.

Jimmy Carter laid out policies that we now look back at and say, 'Gee, that actually made sense.' But you also need to explain it and convey and communicate in a way that provides that tableau, that understanding.

Clarity of communication is important.

If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

Unless in communicating with it one says exactly what one means, trouble is bound to result.

The right word is always a power, and communicates its definiteness to our action.

The difficulty is not to write, but to write what you mean.

Be more assertive with what you want to do.

A multitude of words is probably the most formidable means of blurring and obscuring thought. There is no thought, however momentous, that cannot be expressed lucidly in 200 words.

Definite speech means clarity of mind.

If you cannot state a proposition clearly and unambiguously, you do not understand it.

One should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.

The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that.

You must ask for what you really want.

We have our own thoughts, and if we want others to know them, we must tell them.

Few things concentrate the mind more efficiently than the necessity of saying what you mean. It brings you face to face with what you are talking about, what you are actually proposing. It gets you away from the catch phrases that not merely substitute for thought but preclude it.

Whenever there is discussion, I make it clear that I do not want any grey zones, just black and white.

Get the facts. Ask questions and listen intently to the answers before responding.

Multitudes of words are neither an argument of clear ideas in the writer, nor a proper means of conveying clear notions to the reader.

When I meet with any persons who write obscurely or converse confusedly, I am apt to suspect two things; first, that such persons do not understand themselves; and secondly, that they are not worthy of being understood by others.

Do you want me to answer that?

Don't make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.