Good things, if brief, are twice as good.

The sentence belongs to aphorism 105 of The Art of Worldly Wisdom (Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia), entitled “Do not be a bore”. Gracián first notes how tiresome we find the person who never leaves one subject or one word. Brevity, he adds, pleases and opens doors: it gains in courtesy what it loses in length. After the sentence, the aphorism advises never to importune anyone, least of all great people, who are always busy, and ends with another maxim: what is well said is said quickly.

The book was published in Huesca in 1647 and gathers three hundred aphorisms, each with a short title and commentary. Gracián, a Jesuit from Aragon, published almost all his books under the name of his brother Lorenzo, and his dense, witty style practises what he preaches here.

In Spanish, the first half of the sentence has become almost a proverb, often repeated without its author and without its second, more ironic half: even what is bad, if short, is not so bad.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia), aphorism 105, 1647

Original text checked word for word in the work; the translation is by quotesay.

Read the passage in the work