diff --git a/django/contrib/staticfiles/storage.py b/django/contrib/staticfiles/storage.py
index ab4a364f9b..455be7bcc2 100644
--- a/django/contrib/staticfiles/storage.py
+++ b/django/contrib/staticfiles/storage.py
@@ -21,13 +21,11 @@ class StaticFilesStorage(FileSystemStorage):
             base_url = settings.STATIC_URL
         if not location:
             raise ImproperlyConfigured("You're using the staticfiles app "
-                "without having set the STATIC_ROOT setting. Set it to "
-                "the absolute path of the directory that holds static files.")
+                "without having set the STATIC_ROOT setting.")
         # check for None since we might use a root URL (``/``)
         if base_url is None:
             raise ImproperlyConfigured("You're using the staticfiles app "
-                "without having set the STATIC_URL setting. Set it to "
-                "URL that handles the files served from STATIC_ROOT.")
+                "without having set the STATIC_URL setting.")
         utils.check_settings()
         super(StaticFilesStorage, self).__init__(location, base_url, *args, **kwargs)