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Simplicity Quotes and Quotations
 A speech does not need to be eternal to be immortal.  Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. To be simple is to be great. It helped me in the air to keep my small mind contained in earthly human limits, not lost in vertiginous space and elements unknown. 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. Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much. Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction. The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple. Everything should be made as simple as possible ... but not simpler. To be simple is the best thing in the world. If we live, we live; if we die, we die; if we suffer, we suffer; if we are terrified, we are terrified. There is no problem about it. I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches. Keep breathing. I go about looking at horses and cattle. They eat grass, make love, work when they have to, bear their young. I am sick with envy of them. What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between I occupy myself as best I can. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep getting what you're getting. Life is one long struggle to disinter oneself, to keep one's head above the accumulations, the ever deepening layers of objects ... which attempt to cover one over, steadily, almost irresistibly, like falling snow. Is nothing in life ever straight and clear, the way children see it? There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval. We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them. Eat when you're hungry. Drink when you're thirsty. Sleep when you're tired. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind. If it's working, keep doing it. If it's not working, stop doing it. If you don't know what to do, don't do anything. If you don't like something about yourself, change it. If you can't change it, accept it. There is only one meaning of life, the act of living itself. I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough. The boy and girl going hand in hand through a meadow; the mother washing her baby; the sweet simple things in life. We have almost lost track of them. On the one side, we overintel-lectualize everything; on the other hand, we are over-mechanized. We can understand the danger of the atomic bomb, but the danger of our misunderstanding the meaning of life is much more serious. Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours. I take a simple view of living. It is, keep your eyes open and get on with it. Love, and do what you like. Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires. - Lao-Tzu Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy. I searched through rebellion, drugs, diet, mysticism, religion, intellectual-ism and much more, only to find that truth is basically simple and feels good, clear and right. If you walk, just walk. If you sit, just sit. But whatever you do, don't wobble. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. Fame is a pearl many dive for and only a few bring up. Even when they do, it is not perfect, and they sigh for more, and lose better things in struggling for them. Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing. God made man simple, but how he changed and got complicated is hard to say. Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. The man of fixed ingrained principles who has mapped out a straight course, and has the courage and self-control to adhere to it, does not find life complex. Complexities are all of our own making. The whole is simpler than the sum of its parts. The course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred. 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. At times almost all of us envy the animals. They suffer and die, but do not seem to make a "problem" of it. First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do. If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards. You decide what it is you want to accomplish and then you lay out your plans to get there, and then you just do it. It's pretty straightforward. There is a point at which everything becomes simple and there is no longer any question of choice, because all you have staked will be lost if you look back. Life's point of no return. The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed- it is a process of elimination. A great man is one who seizes the vital issue in a complex question, what we might call the jugular vein of the whole organism, and spends his energies upon that. The more we reduce the size of our world, the more we shall be its master. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. ... Simplify, simplify. There is no greatness where there is not simplicity. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials. All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it. I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. The main obligation is to amuse yourself. There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval. Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time. There is a master key to success with which no man can fail. Its name is simplicity ... reducing to the simplest possible terms every problem. If you want to be found, stand where the seeker seeks. Many things are lost for want of asking. Economy, prudence, and a simple life are the sure masters of need, and will often accomplish that which their opposites, with a fortune at hand, will fail to do. Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants. If you aren't going all the way, why go at all? What I do, I do very well, and what I don't do well, I don't do at all. Players have two things to do: Play and keep their mouths shut. Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing. All I had to do was keep turning left. The rules of soccer are very simple. Basically it's this: If it moves, kick it; if it doesn't move, kick it until it does. If you don't throw it, they can't hit it. Football is blocking and tackling. Everything else is mythology. It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square. There are only five things you can do in baseball: run, throw, catch, hit, and hit with power. Losers have tons of variety. Champions take pride in just learning to hit the same old boring winners. The way you get better at playing football is to play football. I just take my three swings and go sit on the bench. I don't ever want to mess up my swing. Just learn your lines and don't bump into the furniture. My advice about acting? Speak clearly, don't bump into people, and if you must have motivation, think of your pay packet on Friday. Don't let go of the vine. Stay out of jail. Putting aside all the fancy words and academic doubletalk, the basic reason for having a military is to do two jobs-to kill people and to destroy the works of man. The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy. In combat, life is short, nasty and brutish. The issues of national policy which brought him into war are irrelevant to the combat soldier; he is concerned with his literal life chances. You don't hurt 'em if you don't hit 'em. There is nothing certain about war except that one side won't win. I can always make it a rule to get there first with the most men. The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his. The object of war is to survive it. When ideas come, I write them; when they don't come, I don't. The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly. I never thought of myself as a writer, but the simplest thing seemed to be to put a piece of paper in the roller and start typing. The niftiest turn of phrase, the most elegant flight of rhetorical fancy, isn't worth beans next to a clear thought clearly expressed. Get black on white. Art, it seems to me, should simplify. It's a simple formula; do your best and somebody might like it. Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance. All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope. It is the essence of genius to make use of the simplest ideas. Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple. The simplest things give me ideas. If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea. It is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way. The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity: nothing is better than simplicity. True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said, and that only. Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect. Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought. The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply. Simple style is like white light. It is complex, but its complexity is not obvious. When an idea is too weak to support a simple statement, it is a sign that it should be rejected. When thought is too weak to be simply expressed, it's clear proof that it should be rejected. The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers. Simple truths are a relief from grand speculations. Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great. Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought. Affected simplicity is refined imposture. The fewer our wants, the nearer we resemble the gods. - Socrates 
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