"I apologise for writing such a long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one."The quote, " is generally credited to Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher. In his work "Lettres Provinciales" (Provincial Letters), published in 1657, Pascal wrote in French: "Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte," which translates to, "I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter."