c. 35-100
Quintilian
Roman teacher of rhetoric from Spain whose Institutio Oratoria is a full course in how to think, write and speak well. Its advice on clarity still holds.
Every line we carry
Each one links to its source, what it means, and the shirt in any of our looks.
- Aim not to be understood, but to be impossible to misunderstand.
Quintilian reminds speakers that listeners are distracted and will not do the work of decoding. Clarity is a courtesy and a weapon. Write the email, the pitch or the instruction so plainly that nobody can get it wrong.
Institutio Oratoria 8.2.24, our translation from the Latin