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About this quote

What does it mean?
Modern society prioritizes efficiency and speed over depth and substance.
In plain terms
People today focus on things that can be shortened or simplified.
What can you take from it?
Beware of sacrificing meaning for the sake of brevity.

Where it applies

  • workplace culture
  • daily routines
  • digital communication

Putting it to work

  • reviewing communication habits
  • assessing task value

Questions to consider

  • What have you shortened that lost value?
  • Is efficiency always the goal?

Another view

Some tasks genuinely require time and cannot be meaningfully abbreviated.

More from Paul Valery

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  2. On a toujours cherche des explications quand c'etait des representations qu'on pouvait seulement essaye d'inventer.

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  3. A poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to it-that is to say, gives it to the public.

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