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Plain Language Quotes

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Plain Language Quotes

“As he once wrote of Kipling, his own enduring influence can be measured by a number of terms and phrases—doublethink, thought police, 'Some animals are more equal than others'—that he embedded in our language and in our minds. In Orwell's own mind there was an inextricable connection between language and truth, a conviction that by using plain and unambiguous words one could forbid oneself the comfort of certain falsehoods and delusions. Every time you hear a piece of psychobabble or propaganda—'people's princess,' say, or 'collateral damage,' or 'peace initiative'—it is good to have a well-thumbed collection of his essays nearby. His main enemy in discourse was euphemism, just as his main enemy in practice was the abuse of power, and (more important) the slavish willingness of people to submit to it.”

MindTruthLanguagePeacePowerInfluenceLiesConvictionEqualityPropagandaPhrasesDelusionAnimalsSubmissionEuphemismGeorge OrwellCollateral DamagePlain LanguageThought PoliceTermsDoublethinkRudyard KiplingDiana Princess Of Wales
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“There was a sociologist who had written a paper for us all to read—something he had written ahead of time. I started to read the damn thing, and my eyes were coming out: I couldn’t make head nor tail of it! I figured it was because I hadn’t read any of the books on that list. I had this uneasy feeling of “I’m not adequate,” until finally I said to myself, “I’m gonna stop, and read one sentence slowly, so I can figure out what the hell it means.” So I stopped—at random—and read the next sentence very carefully. I can’t remember it precisely, but it was very close to this: “The individual member of the social community often receives his information via visual, symbolic channels.” I went back and forth over it, and translated. You know what it means? “People read.” Then I went over the next sentence, and I realized that I could translate that one also. Then it became a kind of empty business: “Sometimes people read; sometimes people listen to the radio,” and so on, but written in such a fancy way that I couldn’t understand it at first, and when I finally deciphered it, there was nothing to it.”

Plain LanguageRichard Feynman
Book:"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
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“There was only one thing that happened at that meeting that was pleasant or amusing. At this conference, every word that every guy said at the plenary session was so important that they had a stenotypist there, typing every goddamn thing. Somewhere on the second day the stenotypist came up to me and said, “What profession are you? Surely not a professor.” “I am a professor,” I said. “Of what?” “Of physics—science.” “Oh! That must be the reason,” he said. “Reason for what?” He said, “You see, I’m a stenotypist, and I type everything that is said here. Now, when the other fellas talk, I type what they say, but I don’t understand what they’re saying. But every time you get up to ask a question or to say something, I understand exactly what you mean—what the question is, and what you’re saying—so I thought you can’t be a professor!”

Plain LanguageRichard Feynman
Book:"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
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“The physicist may be satisfied when he has the mathematical scheme and knows how to use for the interpretation of the experiments. But he has to speak about his results also to non-physicists who will not be satisfied unless some explanation is given in plain language. Even for the physicist the description in plain language will be the criterion of the degree of understanding that has been reached.”

KnowsMayHas BeensPhilosophyUseSpeakLanguageGivenUnderstandingResultsKnow HowDegreesPhysicsExperimentsSatisfiedMathematicalExplanationDescriptionInterpretationSchemesPhysicistCriteriaPlain Language
Author:Werner Heisenberg
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“Maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear - I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now.”

IfsThinkingKindEnoughFactsLanguagePresidentClearStupidRight NowOfficePlanesZonePilotsSyriaJerseyPutinNew JerseyOvalPlain LanguageFeckless
Author:Chris Christie
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”

InspirationalSimpleInspiringMusicCreativityLearningDesignJazzSimplicityComplicatedProgrammingJazz MusicSimple LifeCommonplaceSimplifyComputer ProgrammingProgramming LanguagesSimple LivingComplicationComputer LanguageCreative ThinkingJazz MusicianArt And CreativityInspire CreativityPlain And SimpleLiving A Simple LifeSimplicity In DesignDesign InspirationLife Is SimplePlain LanguageSimple SolutionsComplicated LifeLife Is ComplicatedSmooth Jazz
Author:Charles Mingus
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“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.”

WritingEndsSpeakLanguageSpeechUnderstoodEnglish LanguageFew WordsOstentationWritten LanguageWriting WordsLanguage WordsPlain LanguageWords You Speak
Book:Fruits of Solitude: In Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life
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“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

InspirationalWritingTwoMotivationalSilenceWrittenTeachingTalentIntellectualValuableCustomersEditingPresentingWriters And WritingBrevityWritten WordWriting By WritersGreat WritingStory WritingWriting StoriesConciseInspiration To WriteFamous WritersWritten LanguageUsing WordsWriting WordsLanguage WordsEditing And WritingPlain LanguageWriting HistoryBusiness WritingSpeaking And Writing
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English―it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them―then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”

WayGivingWritingMeanPersonsHardUseTogetherLanguageSimpleModernFlowerHabitSticksVicesValuableSentencesWideBest WayCraftsProgrammingCreepsAdjectivesFluffShort WordsPlain Language
Author:Mark Twain
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“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my father, brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”

IfsMenBelieveI CanShowsSeemsReligionFatherLanguageWishFamilyChristianityAtheismBrotherOughtMy FriendsAtheistDoctrineBeing TrueNatural SelectionTheismTheistReligious PhilosophyChristian AtheistChristian DoctrinePlain Language
Book:Autobiographies
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“People of a television culture need “plain language” both aurally and visually, and will even go so far as to require it in some circumstances by law. The Gettysburg Address would probably have been largely incomprehensible to a 1985 audience.”

PeopleNeedsHas BeensLawCultureLanguageAudienceTelevisionCircumstancesAddressesGettysburgPlain LanguageGettysburg Address
Book:Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
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“Words in prose ought to express the intended meaning; if they attract attention to themselves, it is a fault; in the very best styles you read page after page without noticing the medium. Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are, the more necessary it is to be plain.”

IfsShouldWritingLanguageImaginationAttentionWrittenStyleOughtPagesFaultsMediumsProseImaginativeNoticingPlain Language
Author:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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