It’s easy to get caught up in the clutter of things: possessions, relationships, meetings, to-do lists.
Then it’s just a matter of time before our days are filled with noise and confusion. That’s when we lose track of what’s most important.
Being busy for busy’s sake is easy. Being selective, I’ve found, is much harder. It requires the development of a selective, minimalist mindset.
This involves decluttering, both mentally and physically, so we’re better able to connect with what drives us.
I’ve curated the following set of quotes about simplicity to inspire us all towards minimalism.
Quotes About Simplicity
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Confucius
If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.
Albert Einstein
One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
Jack Kerouac
Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.
Natalie Babbitt
Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.
Henry David Thoreau
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.
E.F. Schumacher
Living simply makes loving simple.
Bell hooks
If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.
Rainer Maria Rilke
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.
Leo Tolstoy
Wash yourself clean. With simplicity, with humility, with indifference to everything but right and wrong. Care for other human beings.
Marcus Aurelius
Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit of experience and the last effort of genius.
George Sand
Every solution to every problem is simple. It’s the distance between the two where the mystery lies.
Derek Landy
Manifest plainness,
Reduce selfishness,
Embrace simplicity,
Have few desires.
Lao Tzu
A person with taste is merely one who can recognize the greatest beauty in the simplest things.
Barbara Taylor Bradford
Living simply makes loving simple.
Bell Hooks
The greatest ideas are the simplest.
William Golding
One should use common words to say uncommon things.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Life is simple. You just have to stop trying to figure it out.
Marty Rubin
Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Isaac Newton
The greatest ideas are the simplest.
William Golding
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
Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.
Isaac Newton
It’s as simple as that. Simple and complicated, as most true things are.
David Levithan
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang
Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with nature herself.
Henry David Thoreau
Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.
John Ruskin
He who is contented is rich.
Lao Tzu
The less I needed, the better I felt.
Charles Bukowski
Straightforwardness and simplicity are in keeping with goodness.
Seneca
My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do.
Francine Jay
Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject.
Thomas Mann
It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.
Amelia Barr
Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.
Coco Chanel
Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’
Marcus Aurelius
The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
Douglas Horton
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.
Leo Tolstoy
The core of beauty is simplicity.
Paulo Coelho
We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.
Henry David Thoreau
It is the sweet simple things in life which are the real ones after all.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.
Joshua Becker
A simple statement is bound to be untrue. One that is not simple cannot be utilized.
Paul Valéry
Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
William Morris
Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.
Charles Dudley Warner
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
Edwin Way Teale
I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.
Roald Dahl
The simple life on the farm was everything to me. Nothing was more relaxing after a long plane flight than to reach the winding driveway that led up to my house.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
The things that are essential are acquired with little bother; it is the luxuries that call for toil and effort.
Seneca
For a few minutes I tried to empty my mind entirely, to concentrate solely on breathing: sometimes it’s useful to rediscover simpler pleasures of life.
Romain Gary
Nature teaches us simplicity and contentment because in its presence we realize we need very little to be happy.
Mark Coleman
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Isaac Newton
I have to remind myself to live simply and not to overindulge, which is a constant battle in a material world.
Sandra Cisneros
Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein
Simplicity is nature’s first step and the last of art.
Philip James Bailey
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.
Steve Jobs
In character, in manner, in style, in all the things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci
Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.
Natalie Babbitt
To say more while saying less is the secret of being simple.
Dejan Stojanovic
Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy.
Isaac Newton
If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Find joy in simplicity, self-respect, and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice. Love the human race. Follow the divine.
Marcus Aurelius
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
Albert Einstein
It’s strange how the simple things in life go on while we become difficult.
Richard Brautigan
Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.
Coco Chanel
Natural beauty breezes within the simplicity that’s the purity, and the essence of natural beauty too.
Ehsan Sehgal
The wise man then followed a simple way of life-which is hardly surprising when you consider how even in this modern age he seeks to be as little encumbered as he possibly can.
Seneca
Nature loves simplicity and unity.
Johannes Kepler
Simplicity is the nature of great souls.
Papa Ramadas
The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.
Joshua Becker
Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity’s the real challenge.
Robert James Waller
Life only puzzles us because we’re not simple enough to understand it.
Marty Rubin
I always go for simplicity.
David Bailey
One of the biggest accelerators to change is simplicity.
Dr Henry Cloud
I have to remind myself to live simply and not to overindulge, which is a constant battle in a material world.
Sandra Cisneros
Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Isaac Newton
It is desirable that a man live in all respects so simply and preparedly that if an enemy take the town… he can walk out the gate empty-handed and without anxiety.
Henry David Thoreau
Modern civilization is complicated and artificial. Simple folk live in a world of love and peace. Let no one hate another or harm another.
Sivananda
I have had to learn the simplest things last. Which made for difficulties.
Charles Olsen
Every solution to every problem is simple. It’s the distance between the two where the mystery lies.
Derek Landy
It’s as simple as that. Simple and complicated, as most true things are.
David Levithan
You can never be too subtle, and you can never be too simple.
Paul Valéry
Some things just work. There is elegance in simplicity.
Brandon Sanderson
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
Hans Hofmann
Nature teaches us simplicity and contentment because in its presence we realize we need very little to be happy.
Mark Coleman
The expression of truth is simplicity.
Seneca
When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao Tzu
Parting Words
Simplicity is underrated.
We can all attest to the fact that life is complicated enough without adding more noise.
That’s why quotes about simplicity are so helpful — they can help focus our minds on what’s most important.
What’s your favorite quote about simplicity? Let me know in the comments.
P.S. If you liked this, you might also like these related quote collections:
- Quotes About Slowing Down in Life
- Quotes About Simplifying Life
- Quotes About Minimalism
- Quotes About Nature
- Quotes About Moments
Originally published October 29, 2022. The date of the last significant edit is reflected at the top of the post.
✍️ Lima, Peru
