Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there. ~Branch Rickey


He replies nothing but monosyllables. I believe he would make three bites of a cherry. ~Rabelais; Pantagruel


"If you bring that sentence in for a fitting; I can have it shortened by Wednesday. ~M*A*S*H; Hawkeye; ""The Gun"""


In composing; as a general rule; run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style. ~Sydney Smith


My great-grandfather used to say to his wife; my great-grandmother; who in turn told her daughter; my grandmother; who repeated it to her daughter; my mother; who used to remind her daughter; my own sister; that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art; but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop. ~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


A sentence should contain no unnecessary words; a paragraph no unnecessary sentences; for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. ~William Strunk; Jr.; The Elements of Style; 1918


Good things; when short; are twice as good. ~Baltasar Gracian; The Art of Worldly Wisdom


If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind; give it more thought. ~Dennis Roth


In good prose (says Schlegel) every word should be underlined! that is; every word should be the right one; and then no one would be righter than another. There are no italics in Plato. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare; Guesses at Truth; by Two Brothers; 1827


It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed; the deeper they burn. ~Robert Southey


The present letter is a very long one; simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal; translated from French; Lettres Provinciales; XVI; 1656


Brevity is the soul of lingerie. ~Dorothy Parker


If any man will draw up his case; and put his name at the foot of the first page; I will give him an immediate reply. Where he compels me to turn over the sheet; he must wait my leisure. ~Lord Sandwich


If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card; you don't have a clear idea. ~David Belasco


It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books - what other men do not say in whole books. ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche; Twilight of the Idols


The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson