Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes

You know what writers say about their long books: If I had another year, the book would be half as long.

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.

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

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

I am trying to say it all in one sentence, between one cap and one period.

I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had the time to prepare a short one.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.

A good rule for writers: do not explain overmuch.

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.

Reverend Fathers, my letters did not usually follow each other at such close intervals, nor were they so long.... This one would not be so long had I but the leisure to make it shorter.

The shorter and the plainer the better.

Some people write a thank you note for a gift, and it's three pages long, and some people write a thank you note, and it's five sentences - that's me. I like to pare away words because I don't want to waste anyone's time.

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.

I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.

The art of the three-minute song is more like journalism than writing a big 400-page book. You want to be brief, you want to make sense right yen and there. And sometimes that takes a bit of work.

Tweeting has taught me the discipline to say more with fewer words.

Use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something.

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

Use half as many words and they'll hit twice as hard.

If I had more time, I would have written less.

The lessons learned in journalism also apply. Writing for NPR has taught me to cut a piece in half and then in half again - without losing the essence. Apply that to the swollen prose of a bulky novel and you might reveal a beautiful work.

Let us not write at a loose rambling rate, in hope the world will wink at all our faults.

It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

The best advice on writing I've ever received was from William Zinsser: 'Be grateful for every word you can cut.'