John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

I wish my prose to be transparent—I don't want the reader to stumble over me; I want him to look through what I'm saying to what I'm describing. I don't want him ever to say, Oh, goodness, how nicely written this is. That would be a failure.

I see but one rule: to be clear.

If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do.

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.

I never want to confuse people or go over their heads.

I don't think you need to dumb down to a child, you merely have to be clear, you know?

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

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

Communication is about being effective, not always about being proper.

It seems to me that politicians ought to use the same words as other people.

My purpose in public address and in speech is really encapsulated in three C's: clear, concise, correct. No overblowing rhetoric or anything like that. As simple as possible: clear, concise, correct.

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

Do not put cleverness in front of the communication.

The habit of writing clearly soon comes to the writer who is a severe critic to himself.

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

You cannot teach somebody to write a masterpiece, but you can certainly teach them how to improve their writing skills. And you can teach them that they can make their own voices more effective by being able to communicate more clearly and forcefully. It makes people feel more capable when they can write - for instance to make a request - of a politician - and when they are able to receive a reply.

Uncommon things must be said in common words.

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

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

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

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

Like with anything, good writing suggest itself pretty strongly.

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.

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.