Quotessence
Home / Topics / Short Words Quotes

Short Words Quotes

Browse 49 quotes about Short Words.

Short Words Quotes

“He should have known better because, early in his learnings under his brother Mahmoud, he had discovered that long human words (the longer the better) were easy, unmistakable, and rarely changed their meanings, but short words were slippery, unpredictable changing their meanings without any pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were never like a short Martian word - such as grok which forever meant exactly the same thing. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife. And this had been a very short word.”

ShouldTryingHumansLongReligionEasyWaterKnownForeverChangedBrotherShould HavePatternsLiftsKnivesUnpredictableSlipperyMartiansShould Have KnownShort WordsShould Have Known Better
Author:Robert A. Heinlein
Create image

“I owe a quenchless debt to him who bade me seize my fate And hang it on the faith that I to it was adequate For when he said -you're on your own- and sauntered on away I knew that here, in four short words, was youth-s first judgment day Not wit to learn, not test of skill, not pride to satisfy, But will to walk down life in faith that life is theirs who try.”

TryingFirstsSaidLife IsWalksFourFateYouthPrideSkillsJudgmentTestsDebtWitAviationAdequateJudgment DayShort Words
Author:Gill Robb Wilson
Create image

“There are some simple maxims which I think might be commended to writers of expository prose. First: never use a long word if a short word will do. So, if you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences. Third: do not let the beginning of your sentence lead the reader to an expectation which is contradicted by the end.”

IfsThinkingWantFirstsLongEndsUseMightSimpleReaderExpectationsThirdsSentencesStatementsGreat MenProseMaximsQualificationsShort WordsLong Words
Book:The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell
Create image

“Even short words of encouragement is enough to enlighten one's darkened minds and make things a little bit easier to handle. You might be searching for short motivational quotes, that's why I'm here to give you a set of the best short inspiring quotes. Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.”

MenGivingTryingMindLittlesEnoughMightValuesBitsEasierLittle BitEncouragementHandleEnlighteningWords Of EncouragementShort WordsBest Short
Author:Albert Einstein
Create image

“[Erwin Rommel] explained why in short words, what the two generals' message and then he explained his position and he gave some reason for his position. And then he said, "The ten minutes are over, and I have to leave now." Then my father said goodbye. He also told that us that in I think twenty or thirty minutes, I don't remember, "You will get a telephone call telling you that I have died of stroke."”

ThinkingSaidTwoReasonRememberFatherMinutesPositionTenMessagesDiedTwentiesThirtyGoodbyeStrokesTelephonesRemember YouRemembers YouShort WordsRommel
Author:Manfred Rommel
Create image

“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
Create image

“To knot a sentence up properly, it has to be thought out carefully, and revised. New phrases have to be put in; sudden changes of subject must be introducted; verbs must be shifted to unsuspected localities; short words must be excised with ruthless hand; archaisms must be sprinkled like sugar-plums upon the concoction; the fatal human tendency to say things straightforwardly must be detected and defeated by adroit reversals; and, if a glimmer of meaning yet remain under close scrutiny, it must be removed by replacing all the principal verbs by paraphrases in some dead language.”

IfsHumansHandsLanguageSubjectsSentencesTendenciesPhrasesSugarPrincipalDefeatedRuthlessVerbsKnotsScrutinyPlumsReversalParaphraseLocalityShort WordsSudden Change
Author:Aleister Crowley
Create image

“So Mo began filling the silence with words. He lured them out of the pages as if they had only been waiting for his voice, words long and short, words sharp and soft, cooing, purring words. They danced through the room, painting stained glass pictures, tickling the skin. Even when Meggie nodded off she could still hear them, although Mo had closed the book long ago. Words that explained the world to her, its dark side and its light side, words that built a wall to keep out bad dreams. And not a single bad dream came over that wall for the rest of the night.”

IfsWorldLongStillsBookDreamLightNightWaitingSidesVoiceDarkRoomsSilencePaintingWallPagesBuiltSkinsGlassesLong AgoFillingDark SideBad DreamPurringShort WordsStained GlassTickling
Author:Cornelia Funke
Create image

“The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.”

WritingLongSecretReaderThousandFunctionSentencesProportionCarrieConstructionPassiveComponentsVerbsGood WritingUnsureAdverbsShort WordsLong Words
Author:William Zinsser
Create image

“To love very much is to love inadequately; we love-that is all. Love cannot be modified without being nullified. Love is a short word but it contains everything. Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being. We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe the air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us. Love is not a word; it is a wordless state indicated by four letters.”

LoveFeelsMeanSoulStatesBodyLove IsFourAirBloodLettersBreatheWarmthOur ThoughtsLove MeansShort Words
Author:Guy de Maupassant
Create image