To use many words to communicate few thoughts is everywhere the unmistakable sign of mediocrity. To gather much thought into few words stamps the man of genius.
We know that he has, more than any other man, the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought.
British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
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. He tries to compress as much thought as possible into a few words. On the contrary, the man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them.
He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.
The military never uses a full word if they can create an abbreviation.
I don't care how much a man talks, if he only says it in a few words.
Eloquence is the art of saying as little as possible but making it sound as much as possible.
My father always said that too many words cheapened the value of a man's speech.
Talk is free but the wise man chooses when to spend his words.
Sensible men show their sense by saying much in few words. If noble actions are the substance of life, good sayings are its ornament and guide.
What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical.
Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.
Words must be weighed, not counted.
Less is always more. The best language is silence. We live in a time of a terrible inflation of words, and it is worse than the inflation of money.
There is some argument about who actually invented text messaging, but I think it's safe to say it was a man. Multiple studies have shown that the average man uses about half as many words per day as women, thus text messaging. It eliminates hellos and goodbyes and cuts right to the chase.
He was admired for never being at a loss for words and never wasting any either.
I think people talk too much; that's the truth of the matter. I do. I don't believe in words. People use too many words and usually wrongly. I am sure that in the distant future people will talk much less and in a more essential way. If people talk a lot less, they will be happier. Don't ask me why.
The way Singaporeans talk is they use less words.
That was the beauty in stacking up words--they got cheaper, the more you had of them.
Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.
Vic pointed at him, two finger-guns of approval. “I like a man who knows the value of words, doesn’t spend ’em too cheap.” Ranulf nodded. “That is the manner in which I roll.
I think we would all like to believe that every new event demands a new word. But we're environmentally conscious with our words. We recycle words we've got.
