On Simplicity XII (Complexity vs Simplicity IV)

"Simplicity of structure means organic unity, whether the organism be simple or complex; and hence in all times the emphasis which critics have laid upon Simplicity, though they have not unfrequently confounded it with narrowness of range." (George H Lewes, "The Principles of Success in Literature", 1865)

"The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, ‘Seek simplicity and distrust it’." (Alfred N Whitehead, "The Concept of Nature", 1919) 

"In products of the human mind, simplicity marks the end of a process of refining, while complexity marks a primitive stage." (Eric Hoffer, 1954)

"The machinery of the world is far too complex for the simplicity of men." (Jorge L Borges, "Dreamtigers", 1960)

"The ideas need not be complex. Most ideas that are successful are ludicrously simple. Successful ideas generally have the appearance of simplicity because they seem inevitable." (Sol LeWitt, "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art", 1967) 

"Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it." (Alan Perlis, "Epigrams on Programming", 1982)

"It is important to emphasize the value of simplicity and elegance, for complexity has a way of compounding difficulties and as we have seen, creating mistakes. My definition of elegance is the achievement of a given functionality with a minimum of mechanism and a maximum of clarity."  (Fernando J Corbató, "On Building Systems That Will Fail", 1991)

"When a musical piece is too simple we tend not to like it, finding it trivial. When it is too complex, we tend not to like it, finding it unpredictable - we don't perceive it to be grounded in anything familiar. Music, or any art form […] has to strike the right balance between simplicity and complexity […]" (Daniel Levitin, "This is Your Brain on Music", 2006) 

"Most of the world is of great roughness and infinite complexity. However, the infinite sea of complexity includes two islands of simplicity: one of Euclidean simplicity and a second of relative simplicity in which roughness is present but is the same at all scales." (Benoît Mandelbrot, "The Fractalist", 2012)

"I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity; in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation. It's about bringing order to complexity." (Jonathan Ive, 2013)