On Simplicity II

“The aim of science is not things themselves, as the dogmatists in their simplicity imagine, but the relation between things.  (Henri Poincaré, “Science and Hypothesis”, 1905)
 
”Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.” (Eric T Bell, “The Queen of the Sciences”, 1938)

“The greatest mathematics has the simplicity and inevitableness of supreme poetry and music, standing on the borderland of all that is wonderful in Science, and all that is beautiful in Art.” (Herbert W Turnbull)
 
“One of the principal objects of theoretical research in any department of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity.” (J Willard Gibbs)

“Discoveries are not generally made in the order of their scientific arrangement: their connexions and relations are made out gradually; and it is only when the fermentation of invention has subsided that the whole clears into simplicity and order. “ (William Whewell)

”It is not merely the truth of science that makes it beautiful, but its simplicity.” (Walker Percy, “Signposts in a Strange Land”, 1991)
 
”The awkward richness of possibilities seems to shatter any possible coherent theory of simplicity…” (Lawrence B Slobodkin)
 
”It is often the scientist’s experience that he senses the nearness of truth when such connections are envisioned. A connection is a step toward simplification, unification. Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.” (Mahlon B Hoagland, “Toward the Habit of Truth”, 1990)

”It would be simple enough, if only simplicity were not the most difficult of all things.” (Carl G Jung)
 
“[…] it is only through Mathematics that we can thoroughly understand what true science is. Here alone can we find in the highest degree simplicity and severity of scientific law, and such abstraction as the human mind can attain.” (Auguste Comte)

“Science attempts to find logic and simplicity in nature. Mathematics attempts to establish order and simplicity in human thought.” (Edward Teller, “The Pursuit of Simplicity”, 1980)