Joel Stein Quotes

The tone of good web writing grows out of email. It's more direct, personal, colloquial, urgent, witty, efficient. It doesn't waste your time. It reflects that engagement, responsiveness, and haste of web surfers, as opposed to the more general passivity of print readers.

A word to the wise is enough, and many words won't fill a bushel.

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 felt that some of my best lyrics are less than three minutes long, and it's great when you can do that - be succinct and get the message across in a simple, clear idea.

No one ever complains about a speech being too short!

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

We've learned a bunch of things; when you send a message to people, keep those messages short. Imagine walking up to a girl in a bar and going into a four-minute speech about how great you are. No one wants to hear that.

I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already finished, and he sat down.

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.

If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likeable person.

Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.

When you try to communicate too many ideas, sometimes you wind up communicating nothing.

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

In a newspaper, you only have so much room. It teaches you the value of getting to the point, of not pampering yourself with your glorious writing. I've always been much more interested in one powerful sentence that stays with you. That's my style.

Say what you have to say in the fewest possible words.

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

Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.

However old-fashioned and right-wing this may sound, the American genius for language lies in understatement, in saying things simply, pointedly and quickly, and in making new and clean and swift what otherwise might be ponderous, round and slow.

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

Say only a little but say it well.

I'm a very direct person just generally. I don't use a lot of words unnecessarily. I try to get to the heart of the issue, address it and go on to the next thing.

That's the beauty of short films; their strength lies in delivering a message creatively and simply.

If I have 30 seconds to make everyone remember what I do, I better make the most of it.

I like the compressed nature of the story telling.

I like being to the point. It is not my nature to talk too much or indulge in loose talk. I like being brief, and beyond a certain point, I have nothing to say.