Keep It Simple Stupid Quotes: The phrase “keep it simple stupid”, often abbreviated as KISS, is a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in the 1960s. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated.
This principle can apply to problems, designs, instructions, and more. Keeping things simple often results in solutions that are easier to understand, implement and use.
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“Keep It Simple Stupid” Quotes
Below are 80+ quotes about the importance of keeping things simple from many different authors and sources:
Simplicity Quotes
- “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein
- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “Simplicity is the essence of happiness.” – Cedric Bledsoe
- “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
- “Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life.” – Katharine Fullerton Gerould
- “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam
- “The simplest things are often the truest.” – Richard Bach
- “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” – Coco Chanel
- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Clare Boothe Luce
- “Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein
- “Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.” – Edsger W. Dijkstra
- “A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” – Roger Sessions - “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “There is a clarity that comes from simplicity. It requires restraint, but the reward is grace.” – Matthew Kelly
- “Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.” – Alan Perlis
- “Truth always rests with the minority … because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion.” – Soren Kierkegaard
- “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” – Steve Jobs
- “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann
- “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris
- “Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” – Isaac Newton
- “Out of clutter, find simplicity.” – Albert Einstein
Keep It Simple Quotes
- “Keep it simple and focus on the essentials.” – Ken Blanchard
- “Keep it simple and keep it real.” – Todd Smith
- “When in doubt, keep it simple.” – Bryce Courtenay
- “Make it as simple as possible but no simpler.” – Albert Einstein
- “Keep it simple and move forward.” – Tony Robbins
- “Achieving simplicity is difficult, so don’t assume it’s always simple!” – John Maeda
- “The simplest things in life are often the truest.” – Richard Bach
- “Simplicity is the key to brilliance.” – Bruce Lee
- “Simplify everything, but don’t remove the meaning.” – Don Miguel Ruiz
- “Keep things simple and let your true talents shine.” – Robert Kiyosaki
- “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Roger Sessions
- “Simplicity is the essence of joy.” – Marie Kondo
- “Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” – Frederic Chopin
- “Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much.” – Sir Joshua Reynolds
- “Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.” – Plato
- “The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
- “The simplest way to make sure you win is to ban losing.” – Criss Jami
- “One can’t be of the first order of architects without equally being of the first order of poets. Simply moving masses and spaces isn’t enough. Our architectures must also move souls.” – Claude Nicolas Ledoux
- “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “The aspects of simplicity that proved useful resulted in new insights and new ways of looking at things.” – Edward de Bono
- “Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
- “Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion.” – Søren Kierkegaard
- “Simplifying is removing the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann
- “Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
- “Simplifying is removing the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofman
Keep It Stupid Simple Quotes
- “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
- “Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
- “Genius is simplicity.” – Sir Isaac Newton
- “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” – Isaac Newton
- “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “Genius is making complex ideas simple, not making simple ideas complex.” – Albert Einstein
- “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” – John Maeda
- “Simplifying is not lack of something, it’s about gaining perspective.” – Tommy Walker
- “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius
- “Simplify and just do it.” – Ward Cunningham
- “Simplicity is prerequisite to reliability.” – Edsger W. Dijkstra
- “Just get rid of everything that is not essential.” – Saul Leiter
- “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” – Steve Jobs
- “Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind wasn’t born with simplicity: it has evolved into it.” – Katerina Kamprani
- “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: Try to please everybody.” – Herbert Swope
- “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
- “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “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
- “Simplify, then add lightness.” – Colin Chapman
- “Less isn’t more. Just enough is more.” – Milton Glaser
- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Jeff Bezos
- “Simplicity is the keynote to all true elegance.” – Coco Chanel
- “Simple is smart.” – Joe Pichirallo
- “Simplicity is sanity.” – Tim Ferriss
- “The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.” – Peace Pilgrim
- “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
- “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” – Steve Jobs
- “Simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
- “Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- “Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.” – Edsger W. Dijkstra
- “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein
- “Genius is making complex ideas simple, not making simple ideas complex.” – Albert Einstein
- “The simplest things are often the truest.” – Richard Bach
- “Simplicity is the essence of happiness.” – Cedric Bledsoe