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The hidden labor of brevity

"I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter." — Blaise Pascal, Lettres provinciales (1657). Concise writing takes hard work.

The quote

Editing demands cognitive effort

Raw thoughts flow easily into long explanations. Distilling those thoughts into clear, brief statements requires active analysis, structural reorganization, and disciplined cutting.

Why it happens

Brevity respects the reader

Unedited writing shifts the labor of organization onto the reader. Doing the hard work of simplification yourself saves your audience valuable time and focus.

Respecting attention

When detail truly matters

Brevity fails when essential context is stripped away to sound concise. True conciseness balances maximum clarity with the minimum necessary length.

The boundary

Idea

Brevity Requires More Work Than Verbosity

Short communication reveals deep thought because distilling ideas requires time and rigorous editing.

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@spot #writing #clarity #editing

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