“Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.”

— Jean Jacques Rousseau

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

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Jean Jacques Rousseau 91

Genevan philosopher 1712–1778

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“Let's be simple and calm,
Like the trees and streams,
And God will love us, making us
Us, even as the trees are trees
And the streams are streams,
And will give us greenness in the spring, which is its season,
And a river to go to when we end…
And he'll give us nothing more, since to give us more would make us less us.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Sejamos simples e calmos,
Como os regatos e as árvores,
E Deus amar-nos-á fazendo de nós
Belos como as árvores e os regatos,
E dar-nos-á verdor na sua primavera,
E um rio aonde ir ter quando acabemos...
E não nos dará mais nada, porque dar-nos mais seria tirar-nos mais.
Alberto Caeiro (heteronym), O Guardador de Rebanhos ("The Keeper of Sheep"), VI — in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe, trans. Richard Zenith (Penguin, 2006)

“We are socialists. Let us hope that it will not have been in vain.”

Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) German historian and philosopher

Prussianism and Socialism (1919)

“Ornate rhetoric thought out of the rule of Plato… To which poetry would be made subsequent, or indeed rather precedent, as being less subtle and fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

Tractate of Education (1644)

“I am a simple Buddhist monk — no more, no less.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

As quoted in Nobel Prize Winners (1991) by Lisa F. Dewitt.

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

XVIII, p. 484
1810s, Letters to John Taylor (1814)

“To say more while saying less is the secret of being simple.”

Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman

Simplicity http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/21390/Simplicity
From the poems written in English

“This simple form of repression, of using the method of not letting anyone speak, will never succeed.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

2010-, Ai Weiwei Says Blind Dissident’s Escape Will Inspire Chinese, 2012

“Let us say, rather, that actors are a necessary evil,”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

Regarding his oft-cited quote stating that actors are cattle; as paraphrased and quoted in "Town Called Hollywood: Director Pleads Off Poundage" http://www.mediafire.com/view/ix2ammmxkb3flqx/Screen%20Shot%202018-09-11%20at%2012.56.17%20AM.png by Philip K. Scheuer, in The Los Angeles Times (30 May 1943).
Context: [T]he director passed off the phrase as one of his "Machiavellian quips," not to be taken seriously. "Let us say, rather, that actors are a necessary evil," he cautioned, with a straight face. "As a matter of fact, I couldn't work if I weren't on friendly terms with them; I'll bend over backward every time. Besides, I get into each picture I make, if only for a couple of seconds—so I'm probably a frustrated actor at heart myself."

“And less is often more, as Lessing's Prince teaches us.”

Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813) German writer, poet and publisher

Und minder ist oft mehr, wie Lessings Prinz uns lehrt.
"Neujahrswunsch", in Der Teutsche Merkur (January 1774) p. 4; translation from The Quote…Unquote Newsletter (October 1997) p. 3.
The phrase "Less is more" was later used by Robert Browning, and by Mies van der Rohe.

“The more cunning a man is, the less he suspects that he will be caught in a simple thing. The more cunning a man is, the simpler the trap he must be caught in.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment (1866)

“Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.”

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Jean Jacques Rousseau 91

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