Simplicity Quotes
Albert Einstein heads a small list, followed by Steve Maraboli, François Fénelon and others with two entries each. The sourced lines include Edsger Dijkstra’s from 1975, that simplicity is a prerequisite for reliability, and Goldsmith’s from The Deserted Village (1770), about one native charm being dearer than all the gloss of art.
“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time” is credited to Mark Twain and marked misattributed. The notes give the French original, “Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte,” which is Pascal’s, from the Provincial Letters. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” is credited to Leonardo da Vinci and disputed.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.
Copiousness and simplicity, variety and unity, constitute real greatness of character.