The great enemy of clear language is insincerity
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Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.
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We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.
-George Orwell
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Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons.
-Bertolt Brecht, ‘Galileo’
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Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences. – Susan B. Anthony