virtualAdept comments on The 48 Rules of Power; Viable? - Less Wrong
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Do you really think saying less than necessary is good advice? That one seemed intuitively good to me at first glance, but then I thought about it a bit more. If I seek to communicate clearly, I should definitely say as much as necessary.
Otherwise, I heartily agree with you.
Well not literally of course, but I consider the useful meaning to be: beware of the intuitive tendency to assume it is necessary to say much, when saying a little would actually suffice. It's a guideline rather than a rule, not always applicable, but often enough to be of value.
Fair. That's how I took it at first, and why I liked it more then.
Yeah, but then you end up talking like Roschach, or, less extremely, like Batman. That, in itself, can be felt as very rude by those that talk more openly, especially if their speech methods have a strong aesthetic component besides the bare utility.
Or sexy, mysterious and intriguing. ;)
Or in the words of William Strunk Jr., "Omit needless words."