“I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” — Mark Twain
I am going to intensify my effort on concision. I might lose some occasional week post: later, shorter, and better is preferable to earlier, longer, and worse.
“How do we convince people that in programming simplicity and clarity - in short: what mathematicians call elegance - are not a dispensable luxury, but a crucial matter that decides between success and failure?” — Edsger W. Dijkstra
In programming, “elegance” is essential in a painfully obvious way. But elegance is important out of programming; in any communication, or creation.1
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
As usual, there are worse and better ways. The purpose is choosing the best ways.
“Words should be weighed, not counted.” — Yiddish proverb.
Too short? Read further with the Pareto Principle, and this thread:
PS: post partially motivated by:
Writing may be the best way to transfer thoughts from one person to many others. That is a great power, and elegance multiplies it. This thread is a good compilation of quotes about writing, and several aspects of elegance are prevalent in it: