{"id":151076,"date":"2026-01-12T23:47:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/?p=151076"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:47:53","slug":"shorter-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/shorter-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorter Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the great WordPress blogs is Quote Investigator.<\/a> In their investigation into the original source of “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,”<\/a> I came across this great variation from Woodrow Wilson on the amount of time he spent preparing speeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThat depends on the length of the speech,\u201d answered the President. \u201cIf it is a ten-minute speech it takes me all of two weeks to prepare it; if it is a half-hour speech it takes me a week; if I can talk as long as I want to it requires no preparation at all. I am ready now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the great WordPress blogs is Quote Investigator. In their investigation into the original source of “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” I came across this great variation from Woodrow Wilson on the amount of time he spent preparing speeches. \u201cThat depends on the length of the speech,\u201d … Continue reading Shorter Speech<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"fullscreen","default_image_id":54207,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbWEudHRcL2ZpbGVzXC8yMDIxXC8wNVwvUGhvdG8tb24tMjAyMC0xMC0yOC1hdC0yLjA1LVBNLTEtMTAyNHg2ODIuanBnIiwidHh0IjoiU2hvcnRlciBTcGVlY2giLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImZ1bGxzY3JlZW4iLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTA0Nzg2NX0.Lxi73b45RZ9aRakF2H44399792CRx31a0qgeK3SjPJsMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-asides","post_format-post-format-quote"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/shorter-speech\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Shorter Speech","url":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/shorter-speech\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/01\/shorter-speech\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Asides","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt"}],"creator":["Matt"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Matt Mullenweg","logo":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/files\/2021\/05\/Photo-on-2020-10-28-at-2.05-PM-1.jpg"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-01-13T07:47:53Z","datePublished":"2026-01-13T07:47:53Z","dateModified":"2026-01-13T07:47:53Z"},"rendered":"