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

— Hans Hofmann Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy (1998)

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Simplicity

More quotes by Hans Hofmann

Every art expression is rooted fundamentally in the personality and temperament of the artist.

To sense the invisible and to be able to create it — that is art.

In nature, light creates the color; in the picture, color creates light. Every color shade emanates a very characteristic light — no substitute is possible.

Art is something absolute, something positive, which gives power just as food gives power.
While creative science is a mental food, art is the satisfaction of the soul.

Search for the Real and Other Essays (1948)

It makes no difference whether a work is naturalistic or abstract; every visual expression follows the same fundamental laws.

Search for the Real and Other Essays (1948)

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All religions are incorporated in the principle of Truth, Simplicity and Love.

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I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.

Blaise Pascal

If you can’t reduce a difficult engineering problem to just one 8-1/2 x 11-inch sheet of paper, you will probably never understand it.

Ralph Brazelton Peck

Plurality is never to be posited without necessity.

William of Ockham

Attribution

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