Simplicity is best defined as something that is easy to understand. It’s the straight forwardness of what you see, is what you get.
No hidden motives or agendas, no layers of jewels and makeup to fool you. It’s everything in its purest, most authentic form.
Simplicity is living within your means and within your needs while avoiding excess and overindulgence.
And while there can be so much beauty to be found in some of the most complex things we can create, such as the details of a hand-embroidered, beaded wedding dress, or the intricate ceiling of an old cathedral, there is something to be said about the ability to appreciate something as simple as a ray of sun shining on your face after a snowy winter.
We’ve collected 25 quotes about simplicity that will help you better understand how embracing it can make your life feel richer.
1. “I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; Probe the earth to see where your main roots run.”—Henry David Thoreau
2. “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” —Coco Chanel
3. “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures” —Lao Tzu
4. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” — Leonardo Da Vinci
5. “Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”— Bruce Lee
6. “Greatness of spirit is accompanied by simplicity and sincerity.”— Aristotle
7. “The greatest ideas are the simplest” — William Golding
8. “Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are.” —Courtney Carver
9. “I am convinced that there can be luxury in simplicity.” — Jil Sander
10. “Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” —Thor Heyerdahl
11. “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” —Isaac Newton
12. “Human nature has a tendency to admire complexity but reward simplicity.” — Ben huh
13. “Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” —Martin H. Fischer
14. “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” ― John Maeda
15. “A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life.” —Winston Churchill
16. “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” -— Steve Jobs
17. “Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity.”— Charles Bukowski
18. “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
19. “There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.” —Alexander Pope
20. “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler ” —Albert Einstein
21. “Complexity is impressive, but simplicity is genius.” — Lance Wallnau
22. “Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.” — Frank Lloyd Wright
23. “Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means.” — Koichi Kawana
24. “Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
25. “Simplicity is that grace which frees the soul from all unnecessary reflections upon itself.“ — Francois Fenelon
As you can see from these quotes, the theme of simplicity and the importance of taking it back to basics is a recurring one through history.
There is a reason we must occasionally peel back our layers and shed our skin. It’s so we can refocus on who we are at our core.
We hope this article has inspired you to examine your own life and opened you up to questioning what, and who you can do without.