Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 2000 |
| AUTHOR: | Horace (65–8 |
| QUOTATION: | The poet’s aim is either to profit or to please, or to blend in one the delightful and the useful. Whatever the lesson you would convey, be brief, that your hearers may catch quickly what is said and faithfully retain it. Every superfluous word is spilled from the too-full memory. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Horace’s message is often condensed to “Whatever advice you give, be brief.” (Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis.)—line 335. |
| SUBJECTS: | Wisdom |