Quotes: Jean-Luc Bannalec

"It's said that the most complicated thing of all is to achieve simplicity."

–– Jean-Luc Bannalec, pseudonym of Jörg Bong, (b. 1966) a German author. 

Source: Jean-Luc Bannalec. Death of a Master Chef. Translated by Jamie Lee Searle. New York: Minotaur Books, 2020 (translation 2024). 

via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 69.

Quotes: Paul Krugman

"[I]t takes some sophistication to realize that simplicity may be the result of years of hard thinking." 

–– Paul Krugman (b. 1953) American economist and author 

Source: Paul Krugman. Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2020; p. 403.

via: Sketchbook M 13, 2024, 2025, p. 18.

Quotes: Andrew Wyeth

"When you lose your simplicity, you lose your drama." 

–– Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), American visual artist 

Source: Quiltscornerstone Instagram, August 25, 2024. 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 27.

Quotes: Clare Boothe Luce

"The height of sophistication is simplicity."

–– Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), American writer, politician, ambassador, journalist, and activist

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 35. 

Quotes: Henry David Thoreau

"Our life is frittered away by detail. ... Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count a half dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail. ... Simplify, simplify, simplify." 

–– Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American essayist, philosopher, and poet 

Source: Henry David Thoreau. Walden. 1854. 

via: Commonplace Book, 2022, 2022, p.49.

Quotes: Albert Einstein

"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."

–– Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American theoretical physicist 

via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2021, p. 6. 

Quotes: Lenore Tawney

"... to seek a barer life, closer to reality, without all the things that clutter and fill our lives. I left friends whose preoccupations of me held me to their image of me. ... The truest thing in my life is my work. I want my life to be true. Almost gave up my life for my work, seeking a life of the spirit." 

–– Lenore Tawney (1907-2007), American artist. 1967 Journal entry 

Source: Judy Martin Modernist Aesthetic blog 

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook I 2019-2020, 2020, p. 32. 

Quotes: Rainer Maria Rilke

"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 (1875-1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist 

via: Sketchbook A, 2018, p. 54. 

Creativity quotes: Charles Mingus Jr.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." 

–– Charles Mingus Jr. (1922-1979), American musician