"Veni, Vidi, Vici" -- is there anything comparable in modern English?

I think there are a few examples...

When the Germans asked General McAuliffe to surrender his forces in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge his response was, "Nuts." One word. Big message.

Now I think if you take the latin quote from Ceasar which you used you have to consider articles in your word count. Veni vidi vici is three words, but LAtin doesnt require that one use the word "I" every time. So I think technically the Caesar quote is 6 words.

So what compares....

Roosevelt: We have nothing to fear but fear itself. (8 words)

John Paul Jones: I have not yet begun to fight. (7 words)

Rodney King: Cant we all just get along? (6 words)

I dont know if that's what you were looking for, but that's my answer.

What does the antiquity of a statement have to do with the capacity of modern English for concise meaningful expression? The translation into English of the Latin phrase - Veni, Vidi, Vici - is just as concise (I came, I saw, I conquered) today as it was when it was first expressed. "I came, I saw, I conquered" was concise and expressive hundreds of years ago, it is just as concise and expressive today. Nothing has changed to make "modern" English any less ABLE to be concise and expressive

Firefighters teach children when their clothes catch on fire to - Stop, Drop and Roll.

What about these other famous pithy sayings:

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

Give me liberty, or give me death.

Read my lips, "No new taxes."

It depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

Death before dishonor.

Go big, or go home.

Keep on truckin'.

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Hey, Bubba, watch me do this!

Baby Onboard.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Love many, trust few, harm none.

There are many hundreds more...

I understand what you are suggesting, but I think it is simply a matter of the subject and context. The Latin above is powerful not because of its concise phrasing (though, I admit, it plays a part) but because of what stands for. Caesar addressed the Roman senate and was able to sum up his entire military campaign in Turkey with that simple phrase. In those three simple words he expressed his prowess as a military leader, as well as Rome's role of world power.

A small English phrase, backed by powerful and meaningful action, can have the very same effect. For example, an "I do" spoken from the heart during a wedding ceremony.

"Let's play two." -Ernie Banks (He said this one glorious summer afternoon before a baseball game, expressing his wish to play a doubleheader every day out of his pure love for the game of baseball. It reminds me of summer afternoons and good times.)

No language is perfect. To be concise is not a strong point in English. Don't expect it to be something its not.

"Don't take the take one when you can take the take two."

A little confusing right? Most people have to read it a couple times before it makes sense, and just you try to translate it into another language! English is special, its simply not classical because WE aren't classical.

English used to be camparibel. If you look at some of the works in Old English, they will restore your faith in English, but show you how much it has declined to Modern English, with all todays abbreviations, text languages lols, etc.

I live therefore I am.

Birth Life Death

Actually I disagree with your neighbor, we may not be brief but with the extensive range of our language we can be concise in a round about way...

Clunk-click every trip (seatbelt campaign, 1970's)

Retreat Hell! We only just got here! (some US 'Brass' in WWII)

Some chicken! Some neck! (Churchill's riposte to Hitler's boast that he would wring Britain's neck like a chicken's)

Nuts. (US General to German ultimatum to surrender during Battle of the Bulge, late '44/early '45).

I see no ships. (Horatio Nelson holding telescope to false eye when told French ships were closing and he should abort attack).

The phrase that you have chosen has power because of (a) who said it, (b) what it meant, and (c) because of its regular trochaic meter.

As others have pointed out, English is full of pithy phrases; but one that is at least equally concise and trochaic is:

Hear all, see all, say nowt.

It's a shame we can't speak in the native tongue of North America. If the British didn't win, we would be speaking the language of the navajo and the Cherokee, etc( and yes the British did win, we speak english.)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle