Brevity Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old brevity quotes, brevity sayings, and brevity proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

You evidently feel that brevity is the soul of widowhood. Hector Hugh Munro
Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it? Stephen King
The brevity of life is grace to walk on your own path. Lailah Gifty Akita
The fewer the words, the better the prayer. Martin Luther
This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures. Rudyard Kipling
There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together. Josh Billings
Brevity in writing is the best insurance for its perusal. Rudolf Virchow
If brevity is the soul of wit then brevity and levity are the whole of it. Michael R. Burch
The little things are what is eternal, and the rest, all the rest, is brevity, extreme brevity. Antonio Porchia
Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction. Hosea Ballou
Let those who thoughtfully consider the brevity of life remember the length of eternity. Thomas Ken
With this sense of the splendour of our experience and of its awful brevity, gathering all we are into one desperate effort to see and touch, we shall hardly have time to make theories about the things we see and touch. Walter Pater
If human lives be, for their very brevity, sweet, then beast lives are sweeter still. Isobelle Carmody
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book. Friedrich Nietzsche
Many things prevent knowledge, including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life Protagoras
Brevity is the soul of lingerie. Dorothy Parker
The brevity of human life gives a melancholy to the profession of the architect. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is need of brevity, that the thought may run on. Horace
Aim for brevity while avoiding jargon. Edsger Dijkstra
True brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself. Arthur Schopenhauer
The more you say, the less people remember. Francois Fenelon
Brevities are the golden formations in the quartz of literature. James Lendall Basford
Never be so brief as to become obscure. Tryon Edwards
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. Dennis Roth
To write good poems is the secret of brevity. Dejan Stojanovic
A few sentences are enough to tell the truth. Robert Sarah
If you can't explain something in a few words, try fewer. Robert Brault
A parsimony of words prodigal of sense. Benjamin Disraeli
No weapons are more potent than brevity and simplicity. Katherine Cecil Thurston
The definition of Brevity: That which people believe would be a virtue - in me! Greg Curtis
The secret to good writing is to use small words for big ideas, not to use big words for small ideas. Oliver Markus Malloy
When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor. William Strunk, Jr.
In the pleading of cases nothing pleases so much as brevity. Pliny The Younger
It is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Robert Southey
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but not when someone's saying "I love you. Judith Viorst
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity. Jean De La Bruyere
Brevity is a great charm of eloquence. Marcus Tullius Cicero
It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all that he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his readers is sure to skip them. John Ruskin
it is the brevity of life which makes it tolerable; its experiences have value because they have an end. Winifred Holtby
Brevity in writing is what charity is to all other virtues - righteousness is nothing without the one, nor authorship without the other. Sydney Smith
Every epigram should resemble a bee; it should have sting, honey, and brevity. Martial
Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator. Marcus Tullius Cicero
It is such a great fault to talk too much that, in business and conversation, if what is good is also brief, it is doubly good, and one gains by brevity what one often loses by an excess of words. Madeleine de Souvre
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson
For effective communication, use brevity. Jesus said, 'Follow me.' Now that's brief! He could be brief because of all that he was that he didn't have to say. Jim Rohn
Brevity never fatigues; therefore, brevity is always a welcome guest. Theophile Gautier
Brevity is the soul of wit. William Shakespeare
It is such a great fault to talk too much that, in business and conversation, if what is good is also brief, it is doubly good, and one gains by brevity what one often loses by an excess of words. Madame de Sable
As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so it is of small wits to talk much and say nothing. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short. Blaise Pascal
Be sincere...be brief..be seated. Franklin D. Roosevelt
They talk most who have the least to say. Matthew Prior
Be brief, for no discourse can please when too long. Miguel de Cervantes
Much wisdom often goes with the fewest words. Sophocles
People who know little are usually great talkers while men who know much say little. Jean Jacques Rousseau
Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact. George Eliot
Nothing is more unseemly than to give very long legs to very brief ideas. Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say. Will Durant
A vast meaning is unfolded in each line, with such power that a sentence only a line long would suffice for a whole life's training. Rufinus
One rare, strange virtue in speeches, and the secret of their mastery, is, that they are short. Halleck
Have something to say; say it, and stop when you've done. Tyron Edwards
When one has no design but to speak the plain truth, he may say a great deal in a very narrow compass. Steele
Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure. Fenelon
Talk to the point, and stop when you have reached it. John Neal
Words are like leaves, and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. Pope
When you introduce a moral lesson let it be brief. Horace
When asked his greatest surprise — the brevity of life. Billy Graham
The little things are what is eternal, and the rest, all the rest, is brevity, extreme brevity. Antonio Porchia
Brevity is wise in discussions; wordiness leads to invention. Yoruba Proverb
If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now. Woodrow Wilson
Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints, and gods use short and positive speech. Ralph Waldo Emerson
One false word, one extra word, and somebody's thinking about how they have to buy paper towels at the store. Brevity is very important. If you're going to be long-winded, it should be for a purpose. Not just because you like your words. Patricia Marx
Through an arbitrary problem, I had arrived at a tenet of good writing: brevity wins. Michael Winter
There are risks in the sheer brevity of Twitter, and it's actually quite an elegant art reducing what you have to say to 140 characters, and it's something that I quite enjoy attempting to do. Richard Dawkins
I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity. Mohsin Hamid
Writing is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent elimination. Louise Brooks