Quotes About Terseness

#1. What a newspaper needs in its news, in its headlines, and on its editorial page is terseness, humor, descriptive power, satire, originality, good literary style, clever condensation and accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.

Joseph Pulitzer

#2. Much modern prose is praised for its terseness, its scrupulous avoidance of curlicue, etcetera. But I don't feel the deeper rhythm there. I don't think these writers are being terse out of choice. I think they are being terse because it's the only way they can write.

Martin Amis

#3. I usually write very few stage directions. I think a lot of that is a waste of time. The art of screenwriting is in its terseness, saying a lot with a little. I have no patience when I read a script where the writer describes this guy and what he's wearing and his glasses and his hair.

Scott Frank

#4. I can't reveal the mystery to either saint or sinner; I can't state at length what I've said curtly; I achieve an altered state that I can't explain; I have a secret that I cannot share.

Omar Khayyam

#5. I'll miss some of the opportunities that playing Harry [Potter] brought me.

Daniel Radcliffe

#6. I've been approached in the past to option my stories for television, but prior to Evergreen, there were no assurances the production would be filmed in Alaska.

Dana Stabenow

#7. Many adults play roles when they speak to young children. They use silly words and sounds. They talk down to the child. They don't treat the child as an equal. The fact that you temporarily know more, or you're bigger does not mean the child is not your equal.

Eckhart Tolle

#8. E is definitely the biggest ERROR my mother has ever made - worse than the time she designed a litter-box-cleaning robot that flung clumps of kitty poop all over the house.

James Patterson

#9. Drew Baylor, right?

Elle Kennedy

#10. My earliest memories of holidays are from when I was about eight. We lived in Pennsylvania, and every year we'd visit Miami.

Jay Parini