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Quote#Speech

Be brief, be pointed, let your matter stand

Quote byJoseph Story · 1779–1845

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Advice to a Young Lawyer", The American jurist and law magazine: Volume 5 (1831), p. 298..

English (original)

Be brief, be pointed, let your matter stand Lucid in order, solid and at hand; Spend not your words on trifles but condense; Strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense; Press to close with vigor, once begun, And leave, (how hard the task!) leave off, when done.

— Joseph Story

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