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It is pointless to do with more what can be done with fewer.

— William of Ockham

Frustra fit per plura, quod potest fieri per pauciora.

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Notes from Wikiquote

Summa Totius Logicae, i. 12, cited in "Ockham's Razor" by Paul Newall at Galilean Library (25 June 2005)

More quotes by William of Ockham

Plurality is never to be posited without necessity.

It is on account of theology alone that any assertion whatsoever should be called catholic or heretical.

Dialogus (1494)

Plurality ought never be posited without necessity.

Logic is the most useful tool of all the arts. Without it no science can be fully known.

Summa Logicae (1323)

Purely philosophical assertions which do not pertain to theology should not be solemnly condemned or forbidden by anyone, because in connection with such [assertions] anyone at all ought to be free to say freely what pleases him.

Dialogus (1494)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William of Ockham (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.