quote · Source-linked selection
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Approximate author period: c. 1590 AD · renaissance
From the source collection
Meaning
It means that one can say a lot more by using the minimum of language to convey something
This explanation comes from the collection, rather than a new Edsverb interpretation. See the attribution and source notes below.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Shakespeare
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1590 AD · renaissance
author lifetime midpoint
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- Familiar Quotations, ninth edition (1905 printing) (1905 AD)
Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
The voice behind the words.
Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.
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