It is the right economy of time to do nothing by halves, nothing to show, nothing perfunctorily
It is the right economy of time to do nothing by halves, nothing to show, nothing perfunctorily. If you write a letter, put your earnest meaning in, & God shall reward you by enlarging your sight. But save your thought & you shall find it worthless & your wordy letter worthless also. In writing a review, put in only that you have to say, only the things, & leave the consideration of the Greeks & Romans & the Universal History quite out. Stop when you have done. And stop when you have begun if it is not something to you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks 5:418
