Quote#Speech
If you would be pungent, be brief ; for it is with words as with…
Quote byRobert Southey · 1774–1843
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern, ed. Tryon Edwards, F. B. Dickerson Company (1908), p. 52.
English (original)
If you would be pungent, be brief ; for it is with words as with sunbeams—the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
— Robert Southey
More from Robert Southey
He came to ask what he had found, That was so large, and smooth, and round.
It was a summer evening, Old Kaspar's work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun, And by him sported on the green His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
"You are old, Father William." the young man cried, "The few locks which are left you are grey; You are hale, Father William—a hearty old man: Now tell me the reason, I pray."
Cold is thy heart and as frozen as Charity!
"In my days of youth, I remembered my God, And he hath not forgotten my age."
"'Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he, "Who fell in the great victory."