Direct Expression Quotes

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.

Say only what you mean.

He who thinks much says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner.

Words can be deceitful, but pantomime necessarily is simple, clear and direct

Much modern prose is praised for its terseness, its scrupulous avoidance of curlicue, etcetera. But I don't feel the deeper rhythm there. I don't think these writers are being terse out of choice. I think they are being terse because it's the only way they can write.

I like my drawings to be direct. I don't generally work on them for too long, but that doesn't mean that they are not works in their own right.

Uncommon things must be said in common words.

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

Few things concentrate the mind more efficiently than the necessity of saying what you mean. It brings you face to face with what you are talking about, what you are actually proposing. It gets you away from the catch phrases that not merely substitute for thought but preclude it.

You can't lie when you dance. It's so direct. You do what is in you. It is impossible to dance out of the side of your mouth.

There's nobody between you and the print. Nobody. It's you and the subject and the final print. And if you get it published that way, you've said it.

Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence.

I think my music is a way of communicating very directly with people and with people's emotions. I try to make music that doesn't need layers of complexity or obfuscation to speak to people.

Beauty is the main positive form of the aesthetic assimilation of reality, in which aesthetic ideal finds it direct expression.

Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.

I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in.

We never waste space saying, 'On the one hand.' We just state an opinion in a Godlike voice.

I don't type [when I write] because . . . I often have the feeling that everything flows directly from my right hand.

Music should resonate with people on an emotional level. That's one of the criterions I use for an idea. Does it speak simply and directly without obfuscation and without being unnecessarily complex or obscure?

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no other way of life than this way of life.

As a grown adult, if you can't look a woman or look a man in the eye and say, 'I have serious feelings for you' and instead you have to say, 'Do you like me? Check yes or no,' like we're in grade school, that to me is a red flag of maturity as far as a relationship goes.

The way I paint is similar to rock in that you don't stand around and say, 'Gee, what are they talking about?' Rock is simple, blunt, colorful. Same with my paintings. You don't stand back and wonder what it is. That's Jim Morrison, that's a panda, that's a scene on the West Coast. It's not abstract.

The best style of writing, as well as the most forcible, is the plainest.

I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen between me and the paper.