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

-Hans Hofmann

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, morecomplex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.

-E. F. Schumacker

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

-Albert Einstein

I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

-Albert Einstein

I have learned by some experience, by many examples, and by the writings of countless others before me, also occupied in the search, that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others. There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.

-Ann Morrow Lindbergh
(Gift from the Sea)

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

-Laura Ingalls Wilder
(Little House in the Ozarks by Hines)

A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.

-Eleanor Roosevelt
(My Days)

Making the simple complicated is commonplace;
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

-Charles Mingus

A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.

-Henri Frederic Amiel

Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify, simplify! ... Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

-Henry David Thoreau
("Where I Lived and What I Lived For" Walden)

Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.

-William of Ockham
(also known as Ockham's Razor)

Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.

-Thomas a Kempis

Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.

-Edwin Way Teale
("February 4" Circle of the Seasons)

Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.

-Richard Halloway

Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much.

-Sir Joshua Reynolds

Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.

-Mahlon Hoagland
(Toward the Habit of Truth)

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

-Anonymous

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and to a hundred or a thousand… We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

-Henry David Thoreau

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

-John Burroughs