Brevity is the Soul of Wit: Exploring Meaning, Origin, and Modern Usage

Introduction

“Brevity is the soul of wit” is a famous proverb originating from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. At its core, the phrase suggests that true wit – whether in speech or writing – shines brightest when expressed concisely. In an age of information overload, this centuries-old adage has fresh relevance. Modern communicators are bombarded with a “blizzard of words” across print and digital media, and increasingly find that less is more when trying to capture attention. 

Indeed, being succinct is now seen as a hallmark of effective communication, from crafting punchy social media posts to writing clear business emails. This article examines the meaning of “brevity is the soul of wit,” traces its Shakespearean origin and historical influence, and discusses its modern usage, benefits, and potential pitfalls in today’s communication landscape.

Meaning of “Brevity is the Soul of Wit”

“Brevity is the soul of wit” literally means that conciseness is the essence of intelligence or humour. In other words, a clever person can express insightful or funny ideas using very few well-chosen words. The proverb plays on the notion that wit – which in Shakespeare’s time broadly meant keen intelligence or acerbic humour – achieves its highest effect when delivered briefly. 

Figuratively, the phrase advocates for clarity and pithiness in communication. A short and straightforward statement often packs more punch than a long-winded explanation. For example, a one-line joke or a pithy retort can provoke more laughter and admiration than an overdrawn story because the concise delivery sharpens its impact. This idea applies across various communication contexts. In everyday conversation or public speaking, getting to the point quickly shows respect for the listener’s time and keeps their interest. In writing, from journalism to academic work, succinct expression distills the core message so readers grasp it easily and remember it. As one literature scholar observed (invoking Shakespeare’s adage), when someone’s “wit flowed long” it tended to bore others – reinforcing that verbosity dilutes the impact of one’s wit. Whether we seek to entertain, persuade, or inform, the underlying lesson is that clarity and cleverness thrive on brevity.

Origin of the Phrase

Shakespearean Roots

The origin of “brevity is the soul of wit” is famously traced to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, written around 1600–1602. In Act 2, Scene 2 of the play, the character Polonius declares, 

“Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.”

Shakespeare thus coins the expression within Polonius’s dialogue, and it has since become one of the many Shakespearean lines embedded in English language and culture. Notably, Shakespeare uses this line ironically. Polonius is a verbose, long-winded courtier, and even as he proclaims the virtue of brevity, he cannot help but launch into a rambling speech. His self-important promise “I will be brief” is humourously undercut by the fact that he is anything but brief. This ironic context is highlighted by Queen Gertrude’s impatience in the same scene – she pointedly tells Polonius, “More matter with less art,” urging him to get to the point.

Shakespeare’s original audience would have recognised the comedic contrast between the ideal Polonius espouses and his actual behavior. Despite this irony, the wisdom of the proverb itself is genuine, and Shakespeare allows it to stand on its own. In the play, the phrase is meant to sound like a sage truism about witty speech. Over time, it escaped its ironic context and gained proverbial status, commonly cited to mean that true wit or wisdom should be concise.

Historical Context and Influence

After its debut in Hamlet, “brevity is the soul of wit” took on a life of its own beyond the stage. The cultural influence of this phrase grew steadily in the centuries that followed. Shakespeare’s works were widely read and quoted, and many of his pithy expressions entered everyday English usage. By the 18th and 19th centuries, it was not uncommon to see the proverb invoked in literature, rhetoric, and conversation as a piece of established wisdom about communication. In essence, the line became a maxim: part of the collective vocabulary for talking about effective expression. Notably, the proverb’s fame also invited creative reinterpretation. For example, the 20th-century wit Dorothy Parker famously quipped, “Brevity is the soul of lingerie,” twisting Shakespeare’s words into a risqué joke. 

Parker’s parody (first appearing in 1916) indicates how instantly recognisable the original saying had become – even a humourous variation was understood by readers as a play on the well-known Shakespearean epigram. Over time, countless writers and speakers have alluded to “brevity is the soul of wit,” either earnestly or humourously, cementing its place in English idiom. From Victorian essayists to modern journalists, many have echoed the call for concise expression by quoting this line. Even today, one might hear the phrase used in a journalism class or a corporate meeting, reflecting its enduring authority. In short, what began as Shakespeare’s ironic aside has evolved into a sincere proverb – a shorthand reminder that brevity and eloquence go hand in hand.

Modern Usage and Examples

Application in Everyday Communication

In modern everyday communication, “brevity is the soul of wit” serves as practical advice: say what you need to say in as few words as possible, without sacrificing meaning. This principle is applied in various day-to-day scenarios:

Conversations and Meetings

In casual conversation, a concise speaker is often perceived as more thoughtful and engaging, whereas a person who belabors every point may lose their audience. In workplace meetings or presentations, brevity helps maintain colleagues’ attention. Many professional speaking coaches emphasise that cutting the “superfluous noise” keeps an audience’s interest. For instance, TED Talks famously limit speakers to 18 minutes, a practice based on the belief that even complex ideas can be communicated powerfully within a concise timeframe. A focused presentation that ends early is usually more appreciated – “your audience will be eternally grateful if you finish speaking earlier than scheduled” as one public speaking expert notes wryly.

Written Communication

In writing, brevity equates to clarity. Busy readers prefer emails, memos, or letters that get straight to the point. A recent communication experiment at Harvard University demonstrated that shorter emails significantly boost reader response rates. In a study involving 7,000 school administrators, a 49-word email elicited about an 80% higher response rate than a 127-word version of the same message. The finding was simple: people are more likely to read and act on concise messages. 

This is because a long, rambling email imposes what researchers called an “unkind tax” on the reader’s time and attention, whereas a brief message respects the reader and increases the chance of prompt understanding and response. The workplace mantra “keep it short and simple” (KISS) captures this idea – whether drafting an executive summary or texting a colleague, brevity ensures the core message isn’t lost. Indeed, even in personal correspondence, many find a short, heartfelt note more effective than pages of detail.

Humour and Storytelling

In everyday storytelling or joke-telling, brevity often makes the difference between a witty punchline and a tedious anecdote. Comedians and raconteurs know that timing and concision are key to humour. A sharp one-liner or a comic tweet can invoke laughter precisely because it delivers wit before the listener’s attention slips. Conversely, if one “over-explains” a joke or drags out a story, the impact dissipates. This is in line with the proverb’s suggestion that the essence of a witty remark is its shortness. Even outside of comedy, when recounting an event or making a point in conversation, the most memorable remarks tend to be the succinct ones that cut to the heart of the matter.

In all these everyday contexts, modern communicators uphold “brevity is the soul of wit” as a guiding principle. From a polite toast at a dinner to instructions given to a team, the ability to be concise is seen as a skill that conveys confidence and respect. As Shakespeare’s proverb implies, if you can capture an idea in a few well-chosen words, you not only showcase your wit but also ensure your message lands effectively.

Brevity in Digital Communication

Nowhere is brevity more visibly celebrated than in today’s digital communication. The internet and mobile technology have fundamentally changed how we share information – attention spans are short, content is abundant, and audiences scroll quickly. As a result, being succinct isn’t just stylistic, it’s often necessary. The rise of platforms and formats with character limits and condensed content has put “brevity is the soul of wit” into daily practice online.

Social media factors

Social media is a prime example. Twitter, in particular, built its early identity on brevity by restricting posts to 140 characters (now 280 characters). This forced users to distill their thoughts and jokes into bite-sized statements. Interestingly, this constraint often enhanced creativity: users developed a knack for witty, tight phrasing and clever abbreviations to fit meaningful content into a tiny package. One media columnist dubbed tweets “the haiku of everyday life,” highlighting how, in good hands, ultra-short posts can carry surprising depth or humour.

Other social platforms, from Instagram captions to TikTok videos, also reward concise, immediately engaging content, because users tend to scroll past anything that doesn’t grab them in a few seconds. The internet acronym “TL;DR” (too long; didn’t read) has become a cultural shorthand, used when someone provides a one-line summary of a longer text. Its very existence underscores the point: if the message isn’t brief, many people won’t bother to read it.

Digital communication also includes text messaging and chat. In texting, brevity comes naturally – no one wants to read a phone-screen full of a single message. Thus, we’ve developed a lexicon of short forms (from acronyms like LOL to dropping vowels or using emojis) to communicate quickly. Brevity in texts isn’t just about saving time; it also injects a casual, witty tone. A succinct, well-timed “Exactly!” or a one-word retort can be more impactful in a chat thread than a long explanation. Email, while more formal than texting, has also trended toward brevity in practice, with many professionals preferring quick bullet-point updates or a few key sentences over dense paragraphs.

Twitter as Poetry

Moreover, information design on the web favors brevity. Content creators use bold headlines, bullet lists, and 30-second video clips to accommodate the rapid pace of online consumption. Even news outlets often include concise summary boxes or subtitles for those who skim. Digital readers tend to scan rather than read word-for-word, so a brief, clear message is likelier to be absorbed.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy pointed out that this isn’t necessarily a loss – she likened texting and tweeting to a modern form of poetry, “a way of saying more with less,” and noted that a poem itself is a condensed package of feeling and ideas. In other words, digital brevity can be seen as an art form, not just a limitation. The best social media posts, marketing slogans, or blog headlines often follow the spirit of Shakespeare’s phrase, demonstrating that a few choice words (or even characters) can resonate widely.

Overall, our digital age has in many ways validated “brevity is the soul of wit.” It has made brevity a currency of attention: a concise message is more likely to cut through the noise and go viral or prompt a response. The challenge for communicators is to pack value into that brevity – to remain witty, clear, or emotive even when constrained by length. Those who master it are often rewarded with engaged followers, clearer inboxes, or simply the satisfaction of efficient communication. In the vast, fast-moving streams of digital content, brevity becomes not just the soul of wit, but the soul of being heard.

Benefits of Practising Brevity

Increased Engagement

One of the clearest benefits of practicing brevity is stronger audience engagement. Whether the “audience” is a reader, listener, or viewer, concise communication captures and holds their attention more effectively than verbose communication. In public speaking, for example, experts observe that brevity is “critical in keeping an audience’s attention and interest”. Listeners have finite attention spans and can only absorb so much at once. By delivering a message in a tight, focused manner, a speaker ensures that key points are not lost in a haze of words.

In contrast, if a speech or lecture wanders, the audience’s minds are likely to wander too. Historical anecdotes often illustrate this: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – at about 266 words – took only a few minutes to deliver yet is remembered as one of the most powerful speeches in American history. Meanwhile, the other speaker at Gettysburg that day spoke for two hours and left little impression. The difference lies in the impact of a succinct message. A brief speech or text is easier to digest on the spot and leaves a stronger imprint afterwards.

Respecting the reader

In written communication, brevity drives engagement by respecting the reader’s time. When an email or article is concise, readers are more likely to read it to the end and act on it. The Harvard study mentioned earlier quantifies this: cutting a message’s length by roughly two-thirds increased the response rate by 80%, meaning far more readers clicked through and engaged with a shorter message. This real-world result shows that people tune out when confronted with long, dense blocks of text, but will pay attention to a leaner message. Concise content also tends to highlight the most relevant information, which in turn prompts quicker decision-making or feedback. For instance, a brief newsletter update with bullet points can spur a higher click-rate on links than a lengthy, narrative update, because readers can immediately pick out the points of interest.

Brevity also correlates with better retention, which feeds engagement. Audiences not only grasp concise messages faster – they remember them. A study of business presentations found that when presentations were overloaded with detail, much of that detail was forgotten almost immediately, whereas a few key concise points were retained and recalled later. This means that an audience is effectively more “engaged” with a message that is short and to-the-point, because it sticks in their mind and perhaps even sparks follow-up questions or discussion. In marketing and education, this principle is applied by using slogans, summaries, and mnemonic devices – all brief by design – to increase audience interaction and recall.

Engaging the audience

Finally, brevity enhances engagement by inviting conversation rather than monologue. A concise communicator leaves space for others to respond or ask questions. For example, in a meeting, if one explains a proposal in a brisk 5-minute pitch, there is time left for colleagues to discuss and engage with the idea. If instead the explanation drags on for 20 minutes of exhaustive detail, the group may have tuned out and have little energy for discussion.

In this way, brevity can be more persuasive: it focuses on core points that pique interest, then allows dialogue to build on them. It’s telling that many great communicators use brevity strategically – they give just enough information to convey credibility and spark curiosity, and then let the audience lean in. As the proverb implies, wit works best when it’s quick; similarly, any message tends to work best when delivered without excess baggage, thereby keeping audiences responsive and involved.

Improved Understanding and Retention

Closely tied to engagement is the benefit that brevity brings to understanding and memory. A concise message is typically a clearer message. When we practice brevity, we are forced to distill our thoughts to their essence – this often results in communication that is more logically structured and easier to comprehend. Cognitive science and educational research support this idea: people have limited working memory and attention, so presenting information in a compact form helps them grasp it more reliably. 

In practical terms, this means that if you explain a concept in two well-crafted sentences instead of ten rambling ones, your audience is more likely to understand what you mean on the first pass. There is less extraneous information for their brains to filter out. Psychologists refer to this as reducing “cognitive load” for the listener or reader – essentially not overloading them with unnecessary details or convoluted phrasing.

Retention

Concise communication also aids retention, meaning the audience can remember the information later. This is because humans tend to remember key points or striking phrases, and brevity naturally foregrounds those by stripping away the less important bits. Think of a time you attended an hour-long lecture: perhaps only a few take-home messages or a clever quote from the speaker stick in your mind the next day. Brevity aims to make every sentence count, increasing the likelihood that each part of the message is retained. Studies in business and education have found that information presented in a bullet-point or summary format – essentially a brevity-driven format – is recalled more reliably than the same information buried within a long paragraph or monologue. This is why teachers give summaries of lessons and why executive summaries exist at the beginning of reports; they recognise that a concise encapsulation helps the content lodge in memory.

Psychology

There are also psychological principles at play. Brevity often forces clarity of thought on the communicator’s side, which directly translates to clarity for the audience. If you must convey an idea in a single sentence or a tweet, you will choose your words carefully and structure the idea in a straightforward way. The resulting message will be easier for others to follow. Conversely, when someone hasn’t fully figured out what they want to say, they tend to heap on words in an attempt to explain their own confusion – which naturally confuses the audience as well.

Thus, practising brevity can improve understanding simply by eliminating the confusion that comes from unfocused, wordy thinking. One content design expert put it this way: don’t focus on reducing words for its own sake, focus on using “the right amount of words so your content is clear, helpful and meets user needs.” Often, the right amount is fewer words, but with greater care behind each word.

Emphasis

From the perspective of retention, brevity often leverages repetition and emphasis better as well. In a short message, key terms or ideas naturally stand out (and you can even be repeat them without boring the audience, since the overall content is succinct). In a lengthy discourse, the important points risk dilution by volume – essentially “lost in the noise.” It’s telling that many famous speeches and documents known for their impact (like Churchill’s wartime speeches or the U.S. Declaration of Independence) are relatively short; their authors chose strong, memorable phrasing over sheer length.

Readers and listeners can quote these texts years later. In everyday situations, the same holds true: we’re far more likely to recall a brief, catchy phrase someone said than a long explanation. For example, an employer giving feedback might say, “Focus on one task at a time” – a brief, clear directive that an employee can remember during a busy day. If instead the employer offered a paragraph of advice, the core message might not stick.

In Summary

In summary, brevity improves comprehension by presenting information in a digestible form, and it improves retention by highlighting what’s truly important in a message. By practising brevity, communicators help their audience follow along in the moment and remember the content afterwards. This is especially beneficial in teaching, training, marketing, and any field where the goal is not just to have an audience receive information, but to internalise it. As the saying goes (riffing on Shakespeare): if you can “say more with less,” people are more likely to understand and remember your message – truly letting your wit (or wisdom) shine.

Challenges and Misapplications

Risks of Oversimplification

While brevity is generally a virtue, we can overdo or misapply it, leading to oversimplification. The chief risk of pushing brevity to an extreme is that one might omit essential details or nuance, causing the message to lose accuracy or clarity. In other words, brevity can slide into reductiveness – a point where you sacrifice important context for the sake of keeping things short. A message that is too curt may become ambiguous or misleading. For example, imagine a doctor explaining a diagnosis to a patient in only one sentence; in trying to be brief, the doctor might leave the patient confused or anxious due to lack of explanation. As a content specialist succinctly warns, “brevity can lead to oversimplification, which might result in miscommunication.” 

A two-word message like “Meeting cancelled” (while certainly brief) might raise more questions than it answers – Which meeting? Why? What next? In such cases, a few additional words can greatly increase clarity (e.g. “Today’s 2pm meeting is cancelled; we’ll reschedule for next week”).

Political messaging

In both everyday and public discourse, we also see how brevity can distort meaning when you simply boil complex issues down to catchy slogans. Political slogans are a prime example: they are brief by design to be memorable and emotive, but they often oversimplify the issue at hand. One analysis noted that a slogan like “Make America Great Again” was “politically effective” due to its brevity and punch, but as an expression of history and ideology, it is simplistic and fraught.

Similarly, the slogan “Defund the Police” gained traction for its forceful brevity, yet it caused confusion because people interpreted it in different ways. The phrase was too terse to encapsulate the detailed policy ideas behind it, illustrating how a few extra words of explanation would help convey the intended meaning. These examples show that brief expressions can leave too much unsaid, creating room for misunderstanding or manipulation. When you reduce a complex concept to a soundbite, the audience might fill in the blanks with their own assumptions – not always correctly. As a result, overly brief messages can inhibit deeper understanding; people may think they know what a short phrase means, but without clarification, they could be missing the full picture.

Diminishing the emotion

Another risk of over-emphasis of brevity is losing the emotional or persuasive richness of language. While a terse statement can be powerful, sometimes a bit more storytelling or descriptive detail is necessary to engage people’s hearts and minds. If, in the quest to be brief, a writer strips away all illustrative examples, the message might become dry or unconvincing.

For instance, a campaign slogan or advertisement that is only a few words might fail to inspire if it doesn’t provide enough substance for people to connect with. We must strike a balance between brevity and substance. As one psychologist writing about communication noted, brief labels or phrases tend to push us toward black-and-white thinking (because they lack nuance), and this “leads to premature certainty – before we’ve thought through the meaning or complexity” of an issue. 

Education

In educational contexts, oversimplification can also be dangerous. A teacher who gives a very brief summary of a concept might inadvertently leave students with misconceptions, whereas a more detailed explanation would cover exceptions and context that lead to proper understanding.

In summary, the misapplication of brevity turns it from a strength into a weakness. The proverb “brevity is the soul of wit” holds true when brevity clarifies wit. But if one is brief to the point of being cryptic or simplistic, you’ll lose the wit (or meaning). Communicators should be wary of the instinct to truncate every message without regard for context. The key is to be concise but also complete.

A useful guideline is: be as brief as possible, but no briefer. If a message becomes confusing or misleading when you shorten it, that’s a sign that brevity goes too far. In such cases, adding a bit more detail or explanation is not a failure – it’s a responsible choice to ensure accurate communication. As much as we prize wit and sharp one-liners, we must recognise situations where excessive brevity backfires, leading to misunderstanding or superficiality instead of true wit or wisdom.

Situations Requiring Detailed Explanation

There are indeed many situations where brevity should take a back seat to thoroughness. Knowing when not to be brief is as important as knowing when to be concise. Certain contexts demand detailed explanation, nuance, or descriptive richness to be effective. In these scenarios, applying “brevity is the soul of wit” too rigidly could undermine the communication’s purpose. Here are some instances where more expansive communication is warranted rather than a bare-bones approach:

Complex or Technical Topics

When dealing with complex subject matter or technical instructions, brevity can lead to confusion. For example, a manual for operating machinery or a chapter in a physics textbook must provide detail and step-by-step clarity. Oversimplifying the content might leave the reader without enough understanding to safely use the machine or grasp the scientific concept. In such cases, clarity comes from completeness – additional sentences, examples, or diagrams ensure accuracy and comprehension. As a rule, if an audience lacks expertise in the topic, a thorough explanation is more beneficial than a terse summary.

Legal and Safety Communications

Contracts, legal disclaimers, and safety guidelines typically require explicit detail. The law often hinges on specific wording, and brevity could create loopholes or ambiguity. For instance, some might interpret a one-line legal clause in multiple ways, whereas a carefully worded paragraph can eliminate doubt. Similarly, safety instructions (for a medication or emergency procedure) need to spell out precautions and steps unambiguously. Here, we need to balance brevity with precision – it’s better to be slightly wordy and clear than risk a critical misunderstanding that could have serious consequences.

Emotional or Sensitive Topics

When communicating about sensitive subjects (such as personal feelings, health issues, or complex social matters), a brief statement might come across as brusque or uncaring. In these contexts, taking the time to elaborate with empathy and context is important. For example, delivering medical test results to a patient with just a brief “it’s bad” or “it’s fine” would be inappropriate; the patient deserves an explanation of what the result means and what the next steps are. Likewise, in personal relationships, you cannot replace a deep discussion with a short quip. Relationships thrive on understanding, which sometimes requires detailed conversation rather than witty brevity.

Situations Needing Ambiance or Persuasion

In storytelling, literature, or any persuasive writing, sometimes brevity can rob the message of its persuasive power. A novelist wouldn’t sum up the climax of the story in a single sentence, because the narrative buildup is what gives it emotional weight. Similarly, a persuasive essay might need to walk the reader through reasoning and evidence; a mere assertion in one line wouldn’t convince as effectively. 

There is an aesthetic and rhetorical dimension here: descriptions, rhetorical flourishes, and repetitions can all serve a purpose in making a message more vivid or convincing. A famous example is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Its power comes firstly from an idea (in short, “end racism”); Secondly, from the imagery and rhythmic repetitions King uses. In creative and persuasive communication, detailed exposition or imagery often resonates more than minimalist statements.

In these situations and others like them, we might modify the motto to “clarity is the soul of wit.” Sometimes, achieving clarity means providing additional details or context. Professional content designers advise that one should “use as many words as you need to be clear” – even if that exceeds a strict word limit. 

Keeping focus on understanding

Brevity for its own sake should not trump the audience’s need to fully grasp the message. The UK government’s content design guides, for instance, prioritise plain language and user comprehension over merely cutting words; if a process needs a longer explanation for a user to follow it, then so be it. Brevity must always be measured against the question, “Did I communicate what the audience needs to know?” If the honest answer is “No,” we need more detail: accordingly, yield wit to substance.

Thus, effective communicators develop judgment about when to be brief and when to elaborate. It’s not a one-size-fits-all rule. They consider their audience and purpose: teaching a new concept to beginners? Likely needs detail and examples. Writing a quick status update for busy executives? Better be brief.

In practice, one might start with a concise core message (the soul of wit) and then add supporting details until the message is complete and clear. This way, brevity guides the structure (preventing unnecessary tangents), but doesn’t strangle the content. As a result, the communication can be both efficient and effective. In summary, while “brevity is the soul of wit” is excellent advice, it comes with the caveat that one must know when to break the rule. Sometimes, truly wise (and witty) communication requires more words – and that’s perfectly fine. The ultimate goal is meaningful understanding, and brevity is just one tool among many to achieve it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, “brevity is the soul of wit” remains a guiding light for communicators across eras – from Shakespeare’s time to our digital present. Its enduring appeal lies in the elegant truth that clear, impactful communication benefits from conciseness. We have explored how the phrase means far more than just using fewer words; it encapsulates an approach to expression that prizes focus, clarity, and effectiveness. Shakespeare’s own use of the line in Hamlet may have been ironic. But the modern life is embracing the proverb earnestly in modern life, informing how we craft:

• jokes;
• speeches;
• emails;
• social media posts, and more.

Adhering to this principle can yield tangible benefits, as audiences

• stay engaged;
• understand messages better, and;
• remember them longer when you trim away unnecessary verbosity.

In a world drowning in information, the ability to cut to the chase is a game changer. People appreciate it, and it’s often necessary if you want people to hear you. As highlighted, businesses see improved response rates with succinct emails, and educators find that students retain concise summaries better than lengthy lectures. In these ways, brevity serves as the lifeblood (the “soul”) of effective wit and wisdom in communication.

The Importance of Balance

However, brevity requires balance with context and purpose. The soul of wit may be brevity, but the body of knowledge sometimes needs more flesh. Oversimplification is a real hazard when you misapply brevity. In fact, we can’t reduce every message to a one-liner. Wisdom lies in knowing when you make the point – and when you need to explain further. As communicators, we should strive to be concise without becoming cryptic, to be succinct without sacrificing substance. In practice, this means continually editing and asking: Does this word/sentence add value or just volume? If it’s the latter, perhaps it can go. If cutting it would harm understanding, then it stays.

Ultimately, “brevity is the soul of wit” is about respect – respect for the power of language and respect for the audience’s time and intelligence. By saying things in the simplest, clearest way, we honor our message and our reader or listener. The modern landscape – from the brevity of a tweet to the executive summary of a report – shows the wisdom of Shakespeare’s insight. Nearly four hundred years on, we find that the ability to be brief and brilliant is as prized as ever. Or, to put it more playfully (and briefly): if you have something smart to say, say it snappily – for indeed, brevity is the soul of wit.