C. S. Lewis Quotes

Use the right word, not its second cousin.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

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

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

Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?

To reason with poorly chosen words is like using a pair of scales with inaccurate weights.

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.

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.

It has seemed to be more necessary to have regard to the weight of words rather than to their number.

The single most important lesson of effective communication is this: Focus on clarity. Concentrate on precisions. Don’t worry about constructing beautiful sentences. Beauty comes from meaning, not language. Accuracy is the most effective style of all.

I see but one rule: to be clear.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

I've always written very tightly, and there's a good reason for that. There's no point in using words that you're not going to apply.

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.

Words easy to be understood do often hit the mark; when high and learned ones do only pierce the air.

When you use words loosely, without care and consideration, you erode trust in yourself and in what you're saying. When you squander words, you diminish your power.

I love the right words. I think economy and precision of language are important.

I like good strong words that mean something.

Nothing is rarer than the use of a word in its exact meaning.

Don't use big words. They mean so little.

The more words you have at your disposal, the more precisely you can express yourself.

Definite speech means clarity of mind.

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.