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simplicity quotes

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“Then beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity,—I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character, not that other simplicity which is only an euphemism for folly?” Plato, The Republic
“The solution of logical problems must be simple for they set the standard of simplicity.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
“A certain simplicity of thought is common to serene souls at both ends of the social scale.” Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
“To see a thing uncolored by one's own personal preferences and desires is to see it in its own pristine simplicity.” Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“I am as true as truth's simplicity, And simpler than the infancy of truth.” William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.” Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“The greatest ideas are the simplest.” William Golding, Lord of the Flies
“With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“This seemed simple as running water; but simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.” Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
“The simplicity of noun-verb construction is useful—at the very least it can provide a safety net for your writing.” Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
“I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.” Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance
“In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
“Know how complicated it is and then state it simply.” Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden
“Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear,...” Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” Charles Darwin, On The Origin of Species
“He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.” Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.” Confucius, Analects
“If her life were a simple rosary of hours, her life simple and strange as a bird's life, gay in the morning, restless all day, tired at sundown? Her heart simple and wilful as a bird's heart?” James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
“It's not daily increase but daily decrease—hack away the unessentials!” Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
“A proposition must be plain to be adopted by the understanding of a people. A false notion which is clear and precise will always meet with a greater number of adherents in the world than a true principle which is obscure or involved.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“Complex ideas may, perhaps, be well known by definition, which is nothing but an enumeration of those parts or simple ideas, that compose them.” David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
“When asked, 'How do you write?' I invariably answer, 'One word at a time,' and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time,...” Stephen King, The Stand
“Today I feel that I shall win through. I have come to the gateway of the simple; I am now content to see things as they are. I have gained freedom myself; I shall allow freedom to others. In my work will be my salvation.” Rabindranath Tagore, The Home and the World
“Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough—as most wrong theories are!” H. G. Wells, The Time Machine
“I am convinced, that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be unknown. These take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden
“let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.” W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence
“Please observe, gentlemen, how facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.” Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
“I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered” Thomas Paine, Common Sense
“life's simplest answers are often the easiest to overlook.” Stephen King, 11/22/63
“Existence was really very simple when you did what you were told.” William Goldman, The Princess Bride

Related topics

life complexity wisdom beauty explanation truth writing patience compassion ideas understanding knowledge deceit freedom work mind humility nature government desire

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Henry David Thoreau (4)
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Confucius (1)
Plato (1)
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Alexis de Tocqueville (1)
David Hume (1)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1)
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Related sources

Walden (4)
Tao Te Ching (3)
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (3)
The Stand (1)
Three Men in a Boat (1)
The Alchemist (1)
A Woman of No Importance (1)
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1)
The Old Man and the Sea (1)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1)
Democracy in America (1)
The Time Machine (1)
On The Origin of Species (1)
The Republic (1)
Common Sense (1)
The Education of Henry Adams (1)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (1)
The Home and the World (1)