Dan Quayle Quotes

If you really understand something, you can say it in the fewest words, instead of thrashing about.

Say what you have to say and the first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending - sit down.

It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than anything else.

Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.

I think precision in writing goes hand in hand with not trying to say everything. You try and say two-thirds, so the reader will involve himself or herself.

The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.

True brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself.

Why do we embroider everything we say with special emphasis when all we really need to do is simply say what needs to he said? Of course the fact is that there is very little that needs to be said.

You try to make every word count, so there's no doubt what you're talking about. When you're young, you waffle away. Well, I'm done with that. I think it's much more interesting to say just what you mean.

Being able to write an idea down succinctly doesn't make that idea any better than one which rambles on a bit. It just comes to the point sooner.

If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.

A genius knows how to make himself easily understood without being obvious about it.

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

I use circumlocution too often, and instead of getting my point across, I tend to babble.

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.

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

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

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

Generally, the more words you use to say something, the less power those words have.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

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

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

I think about willpower almost never. I realize for myself, trying to be more disciplined is pretty nebulous and it's often a slippery target. For me, I've just thought about incentives.