'Watch where you put your words'

Thinking about speeches and writing in higher education, government, military, politics, 24-hour broadcast news and opinion coverage, sports commentators, and preachers--and how their many words show how fake the speakers  are, how witless they are, and their low opinions of their listeners, employees and citizens.

• “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words."--Matt. 6:7, Jesus
• "When elders speak, they need very few words to make their point. Too many words,...are not needed by true elders...If you talk too much or too loud, you are usually not an elder."--Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr
• "Watch where you put your words... .language is a virus..."--American Gods, Neil Gaiman
• "If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out."--Politics and the English Language, George Orwell
• "Brevity is the soul of wit." --Hamlet, Shakespeare