Simplicity Quotes and Proverbs

Prof. Ludwig Wittgenstein
The aspects of things that are most important to us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.

Eugene Delacroix, 19th-century French painter
A taste for simplicity cannot last for long.

Thomas More
The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.

John V. Cheney
The happiest heart that ever beat Was in some quiet breast That found the common daylight sweet, And left to Heaven the rest.

Hans Hofmann
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

John Morley, 19th-century British statesman
Simplicity of character is no hindrance to the subtlety of intellect.

E. F. Schumacker
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.

Albert Einstein
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

Ann Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea)
I have learned by some experience, by many examples, and by the writings of countless others before me, also occupied in the search, that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others. There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House in the Ozarks by Hines)
It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

Eleanor Roosevelt (My Days)
A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.

Charles Mingus
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

Henri Frederic Amiel
A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.

Henry David Thoreau ("Where I Lived and What I Lived For" Walden)
Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify! ... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

William of Ockham (also known as Ockham's Razor)
Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.

Thomas a Kempis
Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.

Edwin Way Teale ("February 4" Circle of the Seasons)
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.

Richard Halloway
Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.

Mahlon Hoagland (Toward the Habit of Truth)
Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.

Anonymous
Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

Papa Ramadas
Simplicity is the nature of great souls.

Henry David Thoreau
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and to a hundred or a thousand… We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

John Burroughs
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

Donald Curtis, 7/97 Science of Mind Magazine, p. 53
Never again will I make the simple into the complex. Something of true value does not become more valuable because it becomes complicated. Experience and conditions come and go; complications arise and fall away, but the simple action of God is eternal in the universe.
thanks to Mary Larson

Henry David Thoreau
Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.

Henry Thoreau
Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify