John Petit-Senn Quotes

Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.

Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn't about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.

There is nothing in philosophy which could not be said in everyday language.

The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.

Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.

I preferred the simplest vocabulary.

If you can't communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you're giving up your potential.

The words in prose ought to express the intended meaning, and no more; if they attract attention to themselves, it is, in general, a fault.

What is style? For many people, a very complicated way of saying very simple things. According to us, a very simple way of saying very complicated things.

We are often unable to tell people what they need to know, because they want to know something else, and would therefore only misunderstand what we said.

Sometimes listening itself may not be enough-some people must be prodded if you are to find out what they're thinking.

At work, conversation increases productivity. And yet people go into work, put on their headphones. In one interview, somebody called it - they become pilots in their own cockpits.

The only thing that it is advisable to know in any language is the numerals; and even there, you can do a lot with the fingers.

Uncommon things must be said in common words.

That is not good language which all understand not.

People who think well, write well

Finding new ways, more clever ways to interrupt people doesn't work.

The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid. Afraid to say what they mean, because they might be criticized for it. Afraid to be misunderstood, to be accused of saying what they didn't mean, because they might be criticized for it.

One never discusses anything with anybody who can understand one discusses things with people who cannot understand.

I would never use a long word, even, where a short one would answer the purpose.

There is a loving way with words and an unloving way. And it is only with the loving way that the simplicity of language becomes beautiful.

Communication: the thing humans forgot when we invented words.

I know that one is able to win people far more by the spoken that by the written word, and that every great movement on this globe owes its rise to the great speakers and not to the great writers.

I think people talk too much; that's the truth of the matter. I do. I don't believe in words. People use too many words and usually wrongly. I am sure that in the distant future people will talk much less and in a more essential way. If people talk a lot less, they will be happier. Don't ask me why.

Cut in dressmaking is like grammar in language. A good design should be like a well made sentence and it should only express one idea at a time.