succinctness

"I have made this [letter:] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

— Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), Lettres provinciales, letter 16, 1657

Reminds me what that giant of succinctness, the Revd. John Stott, says.

For every minute in the pulpit he spends an hour preparing.

If you miss one word, you're lost.

A bit like poetry. And (good) picture books.

(All I can say is there are A LOT of preachers and public speakers out there spending 90 hours or more a week on their sermons...)