diff --git a/assert/assertions.go b/assert/assertions.go
index 1419e4776..78139b4d3 100644
--- a/assert/assertions.go
+++ b/assert/assertions.go
@@ -614,14 +614,28 @@ func formatUnequalValues(expected, actual interface{}) (e string, a string) {
 	return truncatingFormat("%#v", expected), truncatingFormat("%#v", actual)
 }
 
+// maxMessageSize is the maximum length, in bytes, of a single formatted
+// value that truncatingFormat will print before appending "<... truncated>".
+//
+// This used to be derived from bufio.MaxScanTokenSize, sized just small
+// enough that two truncated values plus their surrounding sentence couldn't
+// exceed the line-length limit go test's output scanner imposes; that
+// avoided losing failure output entirely (#1525), but a limit of ~32KB per
+// value still let a single assertion swamp the console with output no one
+// can read (#1801). 4000 keeps failure output readable, matches the default
+// MaxLength used by Gomega's format package (github.com/onsi/gomega/format)
+// for the same purpose, and remains comfortably below bufio.MaxScanTokenSize
+// so the original line-length guarantee still holds. Anyone who needs the
+// untruncated value can print it themselves, e.g. via t.Logf.
+const maxMessageSize = 4000
+
 // truncatingFormat formats the data and truncates it if it's too long.
 //
-// This helps keep formatted error messages lines from exceeding the
-// bufio.MaxScanTokenSize max line length that the go testing framework imposes.
+// This helps keep formatted error messages readable and ensures they don't
+// exceed the bufio.MaxScanTokenSize max line length that the go testing
+// framework imposes.
 func truncatingFormat(format string, data interface{}) string {
 	value := fmt.Sprintf(format, data)
-	// Give us space for two truncated objects and the surrounding sentence.
-	maxMessageSize := bufio.MaxScanTokenSize/2 - 100
 	if len(value) > maxMessageSize {
 		value = value[0:maxMessageSize] + "<... truncated>"
 	}
diff --git a/assert/assertions_test.go b/assert/assertions_test.go
index 11642e096..f9b45f0a0 100644
--- a/assert/assertions_test.go
+++ b/assert/assertions_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package assert
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
@@ -3653,7 +3652,7 @@ func Test_validateEqualArgs(t *testing.T) {
 func Test_truncatingFormat(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
-	original := strings.Repeat("a", bufio.MaxScanTokenSize/2-102)
+	original := strings.Repeat("a", maxMessageSize-2)
 	result := truncatingFormat("%#v", original)
 	Equal(t, fmt.Sprintf("%#v", original), result, "string should not be truncated")
 
@@ -3981,6 +3980,25 @@ func TestLenWithSliceTooLongToPrint(t *testing.T) {
 	Contains(t, mockT.errorString(), `<... truncated>" should have 1 item(s), but has 1000000`)
 }
 
+// TestLenWithSliceTooLongToPrintIsReadable is a regression test for
+// https://github.com/stretchr/testify/issues/1801. Truncating the printed
+// value at all (TestLenWithSliceTooLongToPrint above) is not enough on its
+// own: the pre-#1801 limit still let a single assertion dump tens of
+// kilobytes into the console, which is just as unreadable as no output at
+// all. The failure message must be truncated to a size a human can actually
+// read in a terminal.
+func TestLenWithSliceTooLongToPrintIsReadable(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	mockT := new(mockTestingT)
+	longSlice := make([]int, 1_000_000)
+	Len(mockT, longSlice, 1)
+	errStr := mockT.errorString()
+	Contains(t, errStr, "<... truncated>")
+	if len(errStr) > 8000 {
+		t.Errorf("Len failure message on a very large slice is %d bytes, want a readable size (<=8000 bytes):\n%s", len(errStr), errStr)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestContainsWithSliceTooLongToPrint(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	mockT := new(mockTestingT)