Simple is beautiful and powerful

• Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy. Richard Halloway
• The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well- being that places harmony in one’s life. Peace Pilgrim
• Straightforwardness and simplicity are in keeping with goodness. Seneca
• Simplicity is the key to brilliance. Bruce Lee
• In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty. Mahlon Hoagland
• Simplicity is the essence of happiness. Cedric Bledsoe
• Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance. Coco Chanel
• Simplicity is the nature of great souls. Papa Ramadas
• Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegant. Jon Franklin
• The greatest ideas are the simplest. William Golding
• The simplest solution is almost always the best solution. Occam’s Law
• When the solution is simple, God is answering. Albert Einstein
• Never overlook the power of simplicity. Robin Sharma
• 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
• Human nature has a tendency to admire complexity but reward simplicity. Ben Huh
• Life is not complex. We are complex.  Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing. Oscar Wilde
• It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.  Amelia Barr
• Most of the time, beauty lies in the simplest of things. Winna Efendi
• Simple living,  Clutter,  Minimalism,  Simplicity,  Complexity,  Consumerism

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Realise simple things are often the best

• I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things in life which are the real ones after all. Laura Ingalls Wilder
• It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. Laura Ingalls Wilder
• It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them. Paulo Coelho
• The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• In the end, life’s simplest moments turn out to be life’s richest ones. Robin Sharma
• When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things – not the great occasions –  that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.  Bob Hope
• Life is in the little things

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Simplify your life to make space for what is important

• Simplifying isn’t meant to leave your life empty – it’s meant to leave space in your life for what you really want to do. Know what those things are before you start simplifying. Leo Babauta
• Simplicity slows down life and frees us from this modern hysteria to live faster. It finds freedom to disengage. It seeks to keep only the essentials. It seeks to remove the frivolous and keeps the significant. Joshua Becker
• Simplifying is not necessarily about getting rid of everything we’ve worked so hard for… It’s about deciding what’s important to us, and gracefully letting go of the things that aren’t. Elaine St. James
• Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual. Linda Breen Pierce
• Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus. Ann Voskamp
• Simplify your life. You don’t grow spiritual, you shrink spiritual. Steve Maraboli
• 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
• A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think. Eleanor Roosevelt
• 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
• Such a simplified lifestyle can be truly wonderful – you’ll finally have time for the things you really love, for relaxation, for outdoor activities, for exercise, for reading or finding peace and quiet, for the loved ones in your life, for the things you’re most passionate about. This is what it means to thrive – to live a life full of the things you want in them, and not more. To live a better quality of life without having to spend and buy and consume. Leo Babauta
• The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well- being that places harmony in one’s life. Peace Pilgrim
• Simplicity

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Brevity is the soul of simplicity

• It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Robert Southey
• Good things, when short, are twice as good. Baltasar Gracián
• It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books – what other men do not say in whole books. Friedrich Nietzsche
• Keep reports as short as possible. Memos less than a page. Business Instruction Booklet
• I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. Pascal, Provincial Letters XVI
• Never use two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson
• The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. Thomas Jefferson
• A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. William Strunk, Jr.
• If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. Dennis Roth
• If you can’t explain something in a few words, try fewer. Robert Brault
• I have made this letter longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter. Blaise Pascal
• In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style. Sydney Smith
• That writer does the most, who gives his reader the most knowledge, and takes from him the least time. Charles Caleb Colton
• Brevity is the soul of lingerie. Dorothy Parker
• If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea. David Belasco
• Brevity

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Rules for when it needs to go

• Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. William Morris
• Buy something new, let something go. Richard Carlson
• Bottom line is, if you do not use it or need it, it’s clutter, and it needs to go. Charisse Ward
• Everything you own should have value, either because it’s functional or beautiful or you just love it. Andrew Mellen

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Simplify wherever you can

• Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify, simplify! Henry David Thoreau
• My philosophy? Simplicity plus variety. Hank Stram
• It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple. Steve Jobs
• 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
• Knowledge is a process of piling up facts, wisdom lies in their simplification.  Martin H Fischer
• Maintaining a complicated life is a great way to avoid changing it. Elaine St James

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Make it simple, not simplistic

• I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein
• Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple. Edward De Bono

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Simplifying something aids our understanding of it

• If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Albert Einstein
• You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.  Albert Einstein
• In general, I feel if you can’t say it clearly you don’t understand it yourself. John Rogers Searle
• Complexity is, generally speaking, an illusion of conscious desire. All things exist in as simple a form as necessity dictates. When a thing is labeled ‘complex,’ that’s just a roundabout way of saying you’re not observant enough to understand it.   Lee Martinez
• Understanding

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Reach the simplicity beyond complexity

• When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Steve Jobs
• Simplicity isn’t just a visual style. It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep. Steve Jobs
• We must strive to reach the simplicity that lies beyond sophistication. John Gardner
• Out of intense complexities intense simplicities arise. Winston Churchill
• Complexity

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Appreciate simplicity in nature and art

• What’s really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer. William Albert Allard
• The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers. Henri Frederic Amiel
• Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity. Plato
• Unity and simplicity are the two true sources of beauty. Thomas Aquinas
• Nature is pleased with simplicity. Isaac Newton
• Art,  Nature

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At its essence, life is simple

• Happiness is simple. Everything we do to find it is complicated. Karen Maezen Miller
• At the end of life, our questions are very simple: Did I live fully? Did I love well? Jack Kornfield
• My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. The Dalai Lama
• Life is actually really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius
• To be alive is to totally and openly participate in the simplicity and elegance of here and now. Donald Altman
• Simple living

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Questions

• How can I simplify my life?
• What cannot be left out?
• What isn’t necessary?
• What can I omit or bypas?
• What is the most important?
• What is flesh and what is fat?
• What is the core idea here?
• What can I streamline, miniaturise or condense?
• What is the essence of this?
• What is something that should be more simple?
• What is one simple way to make life less complicated?
• What has been complicating your life recently?
• What is cluttering your life?
• What is complicating your life right now?

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12 tools for simplifying your life (Wayne Dyer)

• Unclutter Your Life.
• Get rid of anything that keeps you mired in acquisitions that contribute to a cluttered life.
• Clear your Calendar of Unwanted and Unnecessary
• Be Sure to Keep Your Free Time Free.
• Take Time for Meditation and Yoga.
• Return to the Simplicity of Nature.
• Put Distance between You and Your Critics.
• Take Some Time for Your Health.
• Play, Play, Play!
• Slow Down.
• Do Everything You Can to Eschew Debt.