Sally Rooney

I try to keep my sentences quite pared back. What I really want to do is observe people's relationships and interactions. I don't want language to get in the way of that. It's quite a difficult process to achieve that, for the language to feel clear.

Irish Author

Liz Phair

Composing gives me a chance to work in multiple dimensions and helps me pare down my melodies into what is essential. Learning new skills has always energized me and scoring has opened up a world of sonic possibilities.

American Musician

Geoffrey Ward

Books provide context and allow you to think about things over time. Film is like writing haiku; there is an immense amount of pleasure in paring down and paring down. But it isn't the same.

American Historian

Kurt Loder

Rewriting is a large part of the whole job. And get rid of stuff that's not working. Just pare it down until it's a beautiful thing you can hand in, probably late, to your editor.

American Journalist

James Joyce

The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.

Irish Novelist

Michael Shanks

It was nice, though, to have the long term benefit to be able to pare away those things and eventually make the character my own and put my own unique stamp.

Canadian Actor

Rebecca Harding Davis

You will find the poet who wrings the heart of the world, or the foremost captain of his time, driving a bargain or paring a potato, just as you would do.

American Author

Katherine Heigl

I'm really proud of myself because I've pared my beauty regimen down to a cream blush and berry-tinted lip balm, which has saved me so much time.

American Actress

Joan Collins

So-called designer bags are useless, and most are also ugly, faddish and overpriced. Pared down and sleek is always best.

Nate Berkus

I'm interested in fashion; I buy fairly good pieces, and I think as I've gotten older, I've pared down a lot.

American Designer

Means removing parts with a tool, maintaining the object's integrity, usually done with precision.

Literal action

Though often used for food, 'pare' applies to any item needing a reduction of parts.

Not only food

Suggests a careful, often delicate process, not a harsh or damaging one.

Gentle removal

Used to describe the reduction of abstract things, such as budgets or programs.

Metaphorical trim

Implies a careful and often gradual reduction to improve efficiency or performance.

Subtle minimization

Focus on strategic reduction rather than indiscriminate cutting. It's thoughtful subtraction.

Strategic cutting

 PRESIDENT And after we'll pare down trade barriers between our three nations, it will create the world's largest trade zone. Today we have the chance to do what our parents did before us. We have the opportunity to remake the world.

The First Militaristic...

 So, we've always been trying to ask big questions. "What is life?" is something that I think many biologists have been trying to understand at various levels. We've tried various approaches, paring it down to minimal components.