Be brief, be pointed, let your matter stand
Lucid in order, solid and at hand;
Spend not your words on trifles but condense;
Strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense;
Press to close with vigor, once begun,
And leave, (how hard the task!) leave off, when done.

Joseph Story (1779-1845) American lawyer, jurist, Supreme Court Justice (1811-1845)

“Advice to a Young Lawyer”, The American Jurist and Law Magazine, Vol. 5 (1831)