La Rochefoucauld §laroch_142: As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is ...
Source: François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims (1665) (laroch_142) · external_aligned
As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing. ["So much they talked, so very little said." Churchill, Rosciad, 550. "Men who are unequal to the labour of discussing an argument or wish to avoid it, are willing enough to suppose that much has been proved because much has been said."-- Junius, Jan. 1769.]
Witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15)
- manuscript_tradition: First edition, Paris 1665 — Barbin imprint
- critical_edition: Pleiade edition — Truchet (Gallimard, 1964)
- translation: Tancock translation (Penguin Classics, 1959)
- republication: Project Gutenberg — Maxims
- republication: Internet Archive — multiple editions