Should novels generally be 600 pages? No, they should not. Half of writing, maybe 3/4 of writing, is editing. This seems to be a thing that has not gotten through to them. It’s my impression that you could get rid of half of most of these books. These people are not good enough to be this long, but they’re apparently also not good enough to be shorter.
Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
Interview by Susannah McNeely, Ruminator Magazine (2005-08/09)
Quotations about:
terseness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Let the reader find that he cannot afford to omit any line of your writing because you have omitted every word that he can spare.
What are the proper proportions of a maxim? A minimum of sound to a maximum of sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
More Tramps Abroad, Epigraph, ch. 23 (1897)
(Source)
As great minds can express much in a few words, so small minds have the contrary talent of talking a great deal without saying anything at all.
[Comme c’est le caractère des grands esprits de faire entendre en peu de paroles beaucoup de choses, les petits esprits, au contraire, ont le don de beaucoup parler, et de ne rien dire.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶142 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1665) ed. A 1665 variant:[Comme c’est le caractère des grands esprits de faire entendre avec peu de paroles beaucoup de choses, les petits esprits, en revanche, ont le don de beaucoup parler, et de ne dire rien.]
(Source (French)). Other translations:As great Wits have a peculiar Faculty of saying a great deal in a little; so half witted Fellows have a Talent of talking much, and yet saying nothing.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶143]As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶414; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶137]It is the characteristic of great wits to say much in a few words; small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶419]As it is the characteristic of great wits; to convey a great deal in a few words, so, on the contrary, small wits have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶145]As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶142]As it is a trait of powerful intellects to express much in a few words; inversely, small minds talk much and say little.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶142]It is a mark of great minds to say much in a few words. On the other hand, small minds possess the gift of talking much and saying nothing.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶142]As it is the mark of great minds to convey much in few words, so small minds are skilled at talking at length and saying little.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶142]As the stamp of great minds is to suggest much in a few words, so, contrariwise, little minds have the gift of talking a great deal and saying nothing.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶142]As it is the character of great minds to make many things understood in few words; so small minds, on the contrary, have the gift of speaking much, and saying nothing.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]Just as great spirits make much understood with few words, small ones have the gift of speaking very much without saying anything.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]
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 (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)
