“Most of us can easily do two things at once; what’s all but impossible is to do one thing at once.”
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified
“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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Thomas Jefferson456
3rd President of the United States of America 1743–1826Related quotes
G. K. Chesterton book The Innocence of Father Brown
The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Queer Feet
The Father Brown Mystery Series (1910 - 1927)
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher
Part V, Ch. 3 : 3rd Public Talk Madras 14th January 1968 "The Sacred" http://www.jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/awakening-of-intelligence/1968-01-14-jiddu-krishnamurti-awakening-of-intelligence-the-sacred <br class="br">1970s, The Awakening of Intelligence (1973) <br class="br">Context: One can go on endlessly reading, discussing, piling up words upon words, without ever doing anything about it. It is like a man that is always ploughing, never sowing, and therefore never reaping. Most of us are in that position. And words, ideas, theories, have become much more important than actual living, which is acting, doing. I do not know if you have ever wondered why, throughout the world, ideas, formulas, concepts, have tremendous significance, not only scientifically but also theologically.
Michael Swanwick book Stations of the Tide
Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 13, “A View from a Height” (p. 232)
David Myatt (1950) British writer
Source: Myatt, David. Myngath - Some Recollections of the Wyrdful Life of David Myatt, CreateSpace, 2013, ISBN 978-1484110744
Darko Miličić (1985) Serbian basketball player
As quoted in "Storyline: Whatever Happened to Darko Milicic" https://hoopshype.com/storyline/whatever-happened-to-darko-milicic/ (21 March 2016), HoopsHype <br class="br">2010s
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Said to portrait painter Samuel Johnson Woolf, cited in Here am I (1941), Samuel Johnson Woolf; this has often been abbreviated: Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.
“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?”
Marcel Marceau (1923–2007) French mime and actor
As quoted in The Reader’s Digest (June 1958)
George Orwell book Politics and the English Language
"Politics and the English Language" (1946)
Context: Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.