be brief, be brilliant, be gone

“Be brief, be brilliant, be gone,” is oft-quoted and less frequently followed. The quote is often attributable to President Woodrow Wilson; however, several other luminaries have spoken to the theme. Here are a few of my favorites:

• “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill
• “Grasp the subject, the words will follow.” Cato The Elder
• “Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

All of these quotes sound the same theme: 1) be strategic in your communication – ask what is the goal to be achieved? 2) be intentional – once the goal is determined select the words that will allow you to achieve that goal; 3) be impactful – be economic with your word choice since less is more; and, 4) leave the listener with the impact you intended.

Diana Peterson-More

"“Be Brief, Be Brilliant, Be Gone:” Maximizing Communication." Diana Peterson-More Blog. December 11, 2019

brevity is the soul of command

Brevity is the soul of command. Too much talking suggests desperation on the part of the leader. Speak shortly, decisively and to the point–and couch your desires in such natural logic that no one can raise objections. Then move on.

Cyrus the Great
9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great by Ryan Holiday. Forbes. 4/19/2012.

be simple in our teaching

[T]he Holy Ghost will reveal the spirit of truth only as we are cautious and careful not to go beyond teaching true doctrine. One of the surest ways to avoid even getting near false doctrine is to choose to be simple in our teaching. Safety is gained by that simplicity, and little is lost.

Henry B. Eyring

"Simple Is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ" General Conference October 2024

be consistent in your efforts

Taken individually, a single home evening, scripture study session, or gospel conversation may not seem like it is accomplishing much. But the accumulation of small, simple efforts, repeated consistently over time, can be more powerful and strengthening than an occasional monumental moment or landmark lesson. … So don’t give up, and don’t worry about accomplishing something grand every time. Just be consistent in your efforts.

Teaching in the Savior's Way. P.31. As found in "Preserving the Voice of the Covenant People in the Rising Generation," by Jan E. Newman. General Conference October 2023

the ever-startling paradoxes

In the vision of a King born in a stable, attended by the animals and visited by the shepherds, I am led to the ever-startling paradoxes that are the essence of the gospel: out of weakness comes strength; out of simplicity, profundity; out of humility, dignity; out of humanity, divinity.


The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Six, “Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?” p.65

my task is to seek to be a Saint

As a disciple of Christ I may perform at any moment a saving deed. Wherever I am, the world will be there too, and others will need my help. I can bear witness to what is beyond the world. I can testify that God loves every soul. I can be as a little sanctuary for his Spirit. At home, at work, along my way, I can be just. In the midst of compromise I can be constant. I can seek virtue before advancement, endure humiliation rather than cause it, speak kindly to anger. My task is to seek to be a Saint in the most telling way: to forget great feats and to live a common life, performing routine duties and daily chores, all with the attitude of sanctity. 

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Four, “Whom Shall I Send?” p.45

simple people bear the weight of the world

It is not the multitude that serve and save the world but the righteous remnant that walk humbly before God. For the sake of ten the Lord was willing to spare Sodom, but they could not be found. (See Genesis 18:32.) Zarahemla narrowly escaped the fate of Sodom because of the few who were righteous. “Yea, wo unto this great city of Zarahemla; for behold, it is because of those who are righteous that it is saved…. Behold, if it were not for the righteous who are in this great city, behold, I would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy it.” (Helaman 13:12-13.) 

Today as in the past God withholds his dreadful judgment for the sake of his Saints. The nations are not preserved by armaments and the threat of war, nor by economic power and technology. Before the God who made all things, these things are as reeds in the wind. The destroying angels are kept from their work by the lives of unknown people “who seek not for riches but for wisdom” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:7) and who try each day to serve the Lord….

Simple people bear the weight of the world.

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Four, “Whom Shall I Send?” p.42, 43

prayers of prophets

The most meaningful and spiritual prayers I have experienced contained many expressions of thanks and few, if any, requests. As I am blessed now to pray with apostles and prophets, I find among these modern-day leaders of the Savior’s Church the same characteristic that describes Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon: these are men whose hearts swell with thanksgiving to God for the many privileges and blessings which He bestows upon His people (see Alma 48:12). Also, they do not multiply many words, for it is given unto them what they should pray, and they are filled with desire (see 3 Nephi 19:24). The prayers of prophets are childlike in their simplicity and powerful because of their sincerity.


David A. Bednar, “Pray Always,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 41–44

neither you nor I need to declare any new doctrine

Shortly before a general conference [Marion] found himself on a train with Joseph F. Merrill of the Quorum of the Twelve. Marion asked Elder Merrill for advice regarding what he should prepare to talk about. Marion never forgot Elder Merrill's memorable response. "I don't know, Brother Romney," said the Apostle, "but one thing I can tell you, and that is that neither you nor I need to declare any new doctrine."


F. Burton Howard, Marion G. Romney: His Life and Faith by F. Burton Howard. Bookcraft. Salt Lake City. 1988. P.163

we tend to isolate ourselves

I remember thinking about God's plan for this earth. Here I was a young man not knowing much about life and yet being involved in births, deaths, and sickness - in what we sometimes term "raw life." I thought again how we tend to isolate ourselves and our children from some of those fundamental parts of this earth's experience. When someone gets sick, we turn them over to a doctor or a hospital. People generally die in a hospital or a rest home or under professional care. Too often family members do not experience the feelings that come from being part of the whole experience.

I quickly add that I do not advocate a return to primitive conditions. I am grateful for health professionals, the morticians, and other helpers in our modern society. I am convinced, however, that there is something missing from our mortal experience when we do not participate to some degree in some of these basic life experiences firsthand. Sometimes we, or our children, see a person getting sick, and the next time we see them is in a beautiful casket all nice and pretty. We don't realize the trauma and pain that has occurred in the interim, nor the reality of the physical and spiritual separation that has taken place.



John H. Groberg (born 1934) is an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the Eye of the Storm. By John Groberg 1993. p.102

At First She Came To Me Pure

At first she came to me pure,
dressed only in her innocence;
and my love was like a child's

Then she began putting on
clothes she picked up somewhere;
and I hated her, without knowing it.

She gradually became a queen,
her jewelry was blinding . . .
What bitterness and rage!

. . . She started going back toward nakedness.
And I smiled.

Soon she took off the cloth
and was entirely naked . . .
Naked poetry, always mine,
that I have loved my whole life!


~Juan Ramón Jiménez (Translated by Robert Bly. Roots & Wings: Poetry from Spain 1900-1975. Hardie St. Martin, Editor. Harper & Row. 1976. p.61)

Adjust your activities to be consistent with your local conditions and resources. … Make sure that the essential needs are met, but do not go overboard in creating so many good things to do that the essential ones are not accomplished. … Remember, don't magnify the work to be done—simplify it.


Elder L. Tom Perry, "The Doctrinal Foundation of the Auxiliaries," Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 10, 2004, 5, 7–8; see also Ensign, Aug. 2005, 62, 67.