Brevity the Soul of Wit – kenbarnes.us
Shakespeare once said in the play, Hamlet, “brevity is the soul of wit.” Shakespeare was saying that less words are better than more in communicating something. Being brief is the essence of intelligence and wit.
Who gave the official Gettysburg Address? Most would say, Abraham Lincoln. You would be wrong. The official address was given by Edward Everett, the former President of Harvard College, one of the most celebrated orators of the 19th century. Everett spoke for over two hours.Lincoln wrote his speech on the train from Washington to Gettysburg. It was about five minutes in length. Between Everett’s and Lincoln’s address, which one do we remember?
The quote from Hamlet comes from the character, Polonius, Act 2, Scene 2. Polonius was a bit of windbag, who took longer than needed to make his point. Sometimes the best way to show what something is, is to show what it isn’t. Shakespeare was a master at satire.
Why do we often make the written or spoken word longer than it needs to be? It might be that we are a little too enamored with sound of our voice or overly confident of our writings effect. Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Good communication always takes complex things and explains them simply. I have had college professors who have taken simple things and tried to make them complex. Why, probably to show how that they know more than we do.
The key to all good writing is to write and then rewrite. After your rewrite, if you have made it longer, you have probably made it less impactful. Writing or saying something succinctly, takes a lot more time in preparation than making it lengthy. Laziness is the recipe for poor writing or speaking.
I remember Shakespeare’s Polonius: “Brevity is the soul of wit.” I resist the temptation now to wax on eloquently.
Image used by permission from Microsoft.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing and Broken Vessels through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Ken’s Website— https://kenbarnes.us/
Ken blogs at https://kenbarnes.us/blog/
Email- [email protected]
