Simplicity Quotes
Some great minds have given us some famous simplicity quotes.
Isaac Newton wrote, “Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy,” and Leonardo da Vinci wrote, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Even Albert Einstein gets into the act by noting, “Three rules of work: out of clutter find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Please read all these notable quotes on simplicity.
Best Simplicity Quotes
1.) Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.
Henry David Thoreau
2.) If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.
Albert Einstein
3.) It is the essence of genius to make use of the simplest ideas.
Charles Péguy
4.) In everything, love simplicity.
Saint Francis De Sales
5.) Let us learn to live simply so that others may simply live.
Mahatma Gandhi
6.) The core of beauty is simplicity.
Paulo Coelho
7.) Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein
8.) The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
Hans Hofmann
9.) Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.
Isaac Newton
10.) For the more limited, if adequate, is always preferable.
Aristotle
11.) Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.
Coco Chanel
12.) Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Expand your inventiveness with our Creativity Quotes.
Short Simple Quotations
13.) There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.
Leo Tolstoy
14.) Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much.
Joshua Reynolds
15.) The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
Douglas Horton
16.) I take a simple view of living. It is; keep your eyes open and get on with it.
Sir Laurence Olivier
17.) Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.
Ann Voskamp
18.) Don’t make the process harder than it is.
Jack Welch
19.) I like simplicity; I don’t need luxury.
Francis Ford Coppola
20.) A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living.
Eleanor Roosevelt
21.) The spirit’s foe in man has not been simplicity but sophistication.
George Santayana
22.) I feel that the simplicity of life is just being yourself.
Bobby Brown
23.) From native simplicity, we arrive at more profound simplicity.
Albert Schweitzer
24.) One should use common words to say uncommon things.
Arthur Schopenhauer
25.) Simplicity is a prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger Dijkstra
Thought-Provoking Simplicity Quotes
26.) Living simply makes loving simple.
Bell Hooks
27.) Anything simple always interests me.
David Hockney
28.) I am convinced that there can be a luxury in simplicity.
Jil Sander
29.) Simplicity is a choice, a discrimination, a crystallization. Its object is purity.
Le Corbusier
30.) Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.
Thor Heyerdahl
31.) Rather let us be more simple and less vain.
Rousseau Jean-Jacques
32.) I always go for simplicity.
David Bailey
33.) A taste for simplicity cannot last for long.
Eugene Delacroix
34.) In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
See our Gandhi Quotes.
Inspirational Quotes on Being Simple
35.) The greatest ideas are the simplest.
William Golding, Author of Lord of the Flies
36.) I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things in life which are the real ones after all.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
37.) If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.
Rainer Maria Rilke
38.) A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with but how efficiently we can put first things first… When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can discard whatever does not support these.
Victoria Moran
39.) Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
Lao Tzu
40.) My philosophy? Simplicity plus variety.
Hank Stram
41.) A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.
Winston Churchill
42.) I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
Lao Tzu
43.) It is not a daily increase but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.
Bruce Lee
44.) The art of art, the glory of expression, and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity.
Walt Whitman
45.) The world calls for and expects from us simplicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility, detachment, and self-sacrifice.
Pope Paul VI
46.) Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Funny Simplicity Quotes
47.) Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction, he will die out for want of simplicity.
Ezra Pound
48.) I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
Oscar Wilde
49.) The English language has a deceptive air of simplicity, so have some little frocks, but they are both not the kind of thing you can run up in half an hour with a machine.
Dorothy L. Sayers
50.) A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Groucho Marx
51.) If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
Ludwig Boltzmann
Good Quotes about Simplicity
52.) When I was growing up, Dr. Seuss was really my favorite. There was something about the lyrical nature and the simplicity of his work that really hit me.
Tim Burton
53.) I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
54.) For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, clean, and wrong.
Henry Louis Mencken
55.) Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child’s eye – it is very beautiful.
Kailash Satyarthi
56.) Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.
Herbert Hoover
57.) Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.
Henry David Thoreau
Insightful Takes
58.) Grandeur and beauty are so very opposite that you often diminish the one as you increase the other. Variety is most akin to the latter, simplicity to the former.
William Shenton
59.) One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
Jack Kerouac
60.) I believe that the Apple Shuffle is an excellent compromise among the conflicting requirements of simplicity, elegance, size, battery life, and function.
Donald Norman
61.) Pure, holy simplicity confounds all the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the flesh.
Francis of Assisi
62.) As beautiful as simplicity is, it can become a tradition that stands in the way of exploration.
Laura Nyro
Strong Simplicity Quotes
63.) A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.
Henri Frederic Amiel
64.) Simplicity is the key to brilliance.
Bruce Lee
65.) Don’t get me wrong, I admire elegance and have an appreciation of the finer things in life. But to me, beauty lies in simplicity.
Mark Hyman
66.) Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.
Natalie Babbitt
67.) Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit of experience and the last effort of genius.
George Sand
68.) Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury – to me, these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.
Albert Einstein
69.) Every solution to every problem is simple. It’s the distance between the two where the mystery lies.
Derek Landy
70.) Enjoy the simple, the natural, and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.
Benjamin Hoff
71.) Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.
Plato
72.) As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
Henry David Thoreau
Sayings about Simplicity
73.) The Cube is, at the same time, a symbol of simplicity and complexity.
Erno Rubik
74.) Some of the greatest poetry is revealing to the reader the beauty in something that was so simple you had taken it for granted.
Neil Degrasse Tyson
75.) I have a simple philosophy. Fill in what’s empty. Empty what’s full. And scratch where it itches.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
76.) Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
Frederic Chopin
77.) That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
Steve Jobs
78.) As I grew older, I realized that it was much better to insist on the genuine forms of nature, for simplicity is the greatest adornment of art.
Albrecht Durer
79.) I like simplicity. I like using natural sources. (And) I like images to look natural – as though somebody sitting in a room by a lamp is being lit by that lamp.
Roger Deakins
80.) Everything is complex, and everything is simple… What could be more complicated than a rose for someone who wants to understand it? What could be simpler for someone who wants nothing? The complexity of thinking, the simplicity of beholding.
Andre Comte-Sponville
Simplicity Quotes For Motivation
81.) Simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run.
Henry David Thoreau
82.) Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
General Colin Powell
83.) Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
Charles Mingus
84.) Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Robert Brault
85.) 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 meager life than the poor.
Henry David Thoreau
86.) The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.
Steve Maraboli
87.) 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.
E. F. Schumacker
88.) In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
Henry Wadsworth
89.) My encouragement: delete the energy vampires from your life, clean out all complexity, build a team around you that frees you to fly, remove anything toxic, and cherish simplicity. Because that’s where genius lives.
Robin S. Sharma
Famous Simplicity Quotes
90.) Three rules of work: out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
91.) Simplicity does not precede complexity but follows it.
Alan Perlis
92.) Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci
93.) Truth is ever to be found in simplicity and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Isaac Newton
94.) I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
Paul Anderson
95.) Mental toughness is many things. It is humility because it behooves all of us to remember that simplicity is the sign of greatness and meekness is the sign of true strength.
Vince Lombardi
96.) If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.
Wu-Men
97.) Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang
98.) People who pride themselves on their “complexity” and deride others for being “simplistic” should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.
Thomas Sowell
99.) I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Notable Simplicity Insights
100.) It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.
Aristotle
101.) It is the gift to be simple; it is the gift to be free…
Joseph Brackett
102.) Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.
Albert Einstein
103.) Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, and acquiring less so I can have more.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
104.) Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein
105.) Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
106.) Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Confucius
107.) There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.
Alexander Pope
Simplify Insights
108.) Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
109.) Nothing is true, but that which is simple.
Johann Wolfgang
110.) Organic architecture seeks a superior sense of use and a finer sense of comfort, expressed in organic simplicity.
Frank Lloyd Wright
111.) The simplest things are overlooked. And yet, it is the simplest things that are the most essential.
Thomas Lloyd Qualls
112.) Simplicity is not style; it is a state of harmony.
Naoto Fukasawa
113.) Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.
Edward Tuft
114.) The main purpose of science is simplicity, and as we understand more things, everything is becoming simpler.
Edward Teller
115.) Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.
Thor Heyerdahl
116.) Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.
Thomas Kempis
Simplicity Captions
117.) Shoot for simplicity.
118.) Live a life of simplicity.
119.) Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.
120.) The elegance was in its simplicity.
121.) Plain and simple.
122.) A simple life is a peaceful life.
123.) In simple English.
124.) The most complicated skill is to be simple.
125.) Pure and simple.
126.) Dream big, and live simply.
127.) Never underestimate the power of simplicity.
128.) Minimalist mindset.
129.) KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.
130.) When you need less, you have more.
131.) Living the simple life.
132.) Simple living in complicated times.
133.) Simplicity is the key.
134.) There’s beauty and joy in simplicity.
135.) Life’s simple pleasures are the best!
136.) Pure and simple.
137.) Find more in less.
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is the founder and editor of Greeting Card Poet.
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