In Praise of Brevity

For this writer, getting to the nub of things in a complex issue is a challenge. I need inspiration.  Perhaps I should pin the photos of two wise men above my computer. 

 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill

In August 1940, when Britain was struggling through the Battle of Britain and was about to confront the Blitz, Churchill, the then Prime Minister, issued a memorandum to his War Cabinet in which he stressed the need for brevity.   He said:

To do our work, we all have to read a mass of papers. Nearly all of them are far too long. This wastes time, while energy has to be spent in looking for the essential points." - W.S.C.


William Shakespeare















Many years before (in 1599 to be precise), Shakespeare used Polonius, a normally garrulous character, to make the same point when speaking to the King and Queen about Hamlet's difficulties:

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.  Your noble son is mad.                  

Hamlet Act 2, scene 2

Enough said.