Wheather you are looking for simplicity in life or business, you will probably agree that achieving it can be a real challenge.
According to strategists Chris Zook and James Allen from Bain & Company, complexity is the biggest performance killer in organizations.
Complexity isn’t about that ‘one big thing’ that happens overnight. It’s about small things that keep adding up over time—one more KPI here, another survey there, another job created at headquarters to manage a new region.
And we are mostly unaware. We don’t notice the gradual complexity increase.
[To be honest, we’re actually part of the problem, often adding complexity ourselves.]
Here are 60 simplicity quotes to inspire you to combat complexity, one of the 7 bad guys on the strategy execution road.
Simplicity Quotes
1.“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” ―Albert Einstein
2.“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ―Jack Kerouac
3.“Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.” ―Natalie Babbitt
4.“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ―Confucius
5.“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ―Clare Boothe Luce
6.“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.” ―Ernst F. Schumacher
7.“Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.” ―Lao Tzu
8.“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” ―Leo Tolstoy
9.“A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” ―Groucho Marx
10.“A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
Simplicity Quotes 11 – 20
11.“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
12.“And yes, there’s a simplicity to writing books because you’re not a member of a team, so you make all the decisions yourself instead of deferring to a committee. “ —Bernard Cornwell
13.“A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.” —Winston Churchill
14.“A taste for simplicity cannot last for long.” —Eugene Delacroix
15.“Anything simple always interests me.” —David Hockney
16.“As beautiful as simplicity is, it can become a tradition that stands in the way of exploration. “ —Laura Nyro
17.“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
18.“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
19.“Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.” –Plato
20.“Simplicity is the glory of expression.” –Walt Whitman
Simplicity Quotes 21 – 30
21.“Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
22.“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” –William James
23.“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” –Thor Heyerdahl
24.“Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.”–Edwin Way Teale
25.“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” –Lao Tzu
26.“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” –Charles Warner
27.“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” –Henry Wadsworth
28.“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” –Socrates
29.“The waste of life occasioned by trying to do too many things at once is appalling.” –Orison Marden
30.”I am learning…that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.” –Richard E. Byrd
Simplicity Quotes 31 – 40
31.”How many undervalue the power of simplicity! But it is the real key to the heart.” –William Wordsworth
32.”Simplicity of living, if deliberately chosen, implies a compassionate approach to life. It means that we are choosing to live our daily lives with some degree of conscious appreciation of the condition of the rest of the world.” –Duane Elgin
33.”Live simply so that others may simply live.” –Mahatma Gandhi
34.”Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.” –Henry David Thoreau
35.”Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. “–Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
36.”All the masters tell us that the reality of life – which our noisy waking consciousness prevents us from hearing – speaks to us chiefly in silence. “–Karlfried Graf Durckheim
37.”Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. “–Lao Tzu
38.”If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! ” –Chuang Tzu
39.”To have a quiet mind is to possess one’s mind wholly.” –Hamilton Mabie
40.”We sometimes get so caught up with all that is in our lives we don’t see nor do we appreciate the simple things life has to offer. ” –Catherine Pulsifer
Simplicity Quotes 41 – 50
41.”Consider the benefits of owning fewer possessions: less to clean, less debt, less to organize, less stress, more money and energy. ” –K. Collins
42.”Living lightly is not just about the stuff we accumulate, and it’s not just for people in the second half of life. It’s about an attitude of living with fewer burdens and encumbrances, whether you’re twenty– one or sixty– five.”–Susan V. Vogt
43.”Jesus modeled a very simple life. You don’t see him collecting things. He spent his time and energy on relationships – because he knew they were more important than all the stuff in the world. “–Rick Warren
44.”Hard work, nothing to divert my thought, clear air and simple food made my life very pleasant.” –Thomas Edison
45.”People who decide to live a simple life reduce their material possessions and overall consumption and become satisfied with the things that they need and not with what they want. “–Ryan Cooper
46.”It is time to stop responding to every new message or other demands on your time and those who want your immediate attention. This technique applies to work, at home, time already set aside to exercise or whatever. Your need is to approach a higher level of simplicity, not a more complicated routine. “–Byron Pulsifer
47.”Happiness consists not in having much, but in being content with little. Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington,” –Irish Novelist
48.“By eliminating these distractions and simplifying our lives, we are able to think more clearly, be less stressed, and have more time to focus on the things that really matter to us, such as spending time with our loved ones, creativity, dreams, health, travel, and giving back.: “–Pia Edberg
49.“Within six months, we had gotten rid of 50 percent of our belongings. We quickly began seeing the benefits of minimalism and developing a philosophy for how simpler, more purposeful living is something everyone can benefit from.” – Joshua Becker
50.“The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.” –Steve Maraboli
Simplicity Quotes 51 – 60
51.“Simplicity and harmony are the ultimate conditions to be attained in all things. “–Horace Fletcher
52.“I will bring the health of simplicity to my burdened soul and days.” –Muriel Strode
53.“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” –Hans Hofmann
54.“To poke a wood fire is more solid enjoyment than almost anything else in the world. “–Charles Dudley Warner
55.“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. “–Albert Einstein
56.“It is a long way back, a long way back, to simplicity, back to the vision with the sun shining upon it, back to my simple soul.” –Muriel Strode
57.“Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. “–Elise Boulding
58.“Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it. “–Robert Brault
59.“The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn’t simple. “–Doris Janzen Longacre
60.“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” ―Henry David Thoreau
