Know how complicated it is and then state it simply.
 Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden (1986). copy citation

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Author Ernest Hemingway
Source The Garden of Eden
Topic knowledge complexity simplicity
Date 1986
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://web.mit.edu/jscheib/Public/garden1.pdf

Context

“It had gone so simply and easily that he thought it was probably worthless. Be careful, he said to himself, it is all very well for you to write simply and the simpler the better. But do not start to think so damned simply. Know how complicated it is and then state it simply. Do you suppose the Grau du Roi time was all simple because you could write a little of it simply?
He went on writing in pencil in the cheap, lined, school notebook that was called a cahier and already numbered one in roman numeral.” source

Meaning and analysis

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