Neatness is an important requisite

Why did I see coffins where Manet saw pale figures?
René Magritte, in a letter to Michel Foucault.
Simplicity is a great charm in letter-
writing. Everything is solidly anchored 
within a pedagogic space, where a word 
can take the place of an object in reality. 
The gaze encounters words as if they had 

strayed to the heart of things. To cumber 
epistles with quotations, similes, flowery 
language, & a stilted, pedantic style, is 
in bad taste, much like a text written by
a zealous instructor. A phrase may, by 

the addition or omission of one word, 
or by the alteration of one punctuation 
mark, convey to the reader an entirely 
different idea from that intended by 
the writer. In the thin space separating 

the mirror's polished, reflection capt-
uring surface & the opaque surface of 
the wall that catches only shadows, there 
is nothing. Says all that is necessary, in 
plain, distinct language, & says no more.


Sources:
This Is Not a Pipe, by Michel Foucault
The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette (1860), by Florence Hartley