I would explain why I created a file about simplicity . . . but it's too complicated ;-)
- Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and begin to think multi-dimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience--to appreciate the fact that life is complex. (M. Scott Peck)
- The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. (Hans Hofmann)
- Anything can be made to appear simple just by refusing to see the complexities.
- Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials. (Lin Yutang)
- Emotions and feelings can be complex even if the issue itself is simple. (Denny)
- For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. (Henry L. Mencken)
- The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see. (Ayn Rand)
- I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated. (Paul Anderson)
- Life is beautiful in its simplicity. (Thomas Matthiessen)
- Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction he will die out for want of simplicity. (Ezra Pound)
- Never make anything simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful.
- Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify. (Henry David Thoreau)
- Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.
- Part of the problem today is that we have a surplus of simple answers and a shortage of simple problems.
- People who create something out of nothing cause problems--but so do people who create nothing out of something. (Denny Davis)
- Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
- Seek simplicity and distrust it. (Alfred North Whitehead)
- Simple pleasures are life's greatest treasures.
- Some things are just NOT simple--no matter how much you wish they were. (Denny)
- Take time to love the little things.
- There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. (G. K. Chesterson)
- Things always seem simpler if we are not the ones who has to do them. (Denny)
- Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. (Albert Einstein)
- The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn't simple. (Doris Janzen Longacre)
- We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about "and." (Arthur Stanley Eddington)
- When it comes time to die...make sure all you have to do is die.
More or Less
"I want a bathroom cabinet that contains one product that works instead of 47 hypothetical miracles . . . I want a closet with three outfits that fit instead of 100 miscellaneous pieces that require either altering them or me to wear . . . I want a refrigerator with one decent meal instead of nine cubic feet of expired dairy products and little condiment packets . . . I want a counter with one current paper instead of thirty old ones that I'm too guilty to throw out . . . I want a four-passenger car that has room for a passenger in it . . . and finally, I want a purse that contains no more than I actually need to get from here to there!!
I want more out of life, but I want less in it."
(from the comic strip "Cathy")
The Paradox of Our Age
(Norris Peters)
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints;
we spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much,
smoke too much,
spend too recklessly,
laugh too little,
drive too fast,
get too angry too quickly,
stay up too late,
get up too tired,
read too little,
watch TV too much,
and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom and lie too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life;
We've added years to life, not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space;
We've done larger things, but not better things;
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul;
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice;
We write more, but learn less;
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait;
We have higher incomes; but lower morals;
We have more food but less appeasement;
We build more computers to hold more information,
to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication;
We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
tall men, and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare;
more leisure and less fun;
more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are days of two incomes, but more divorce;
of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips,
disposable diapers,
throwaway morality,
one-night stands,
overweight bodies,
and pills that do everything from cheer,
to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the show window
and nothing in the stockroom;
a time when technology can bring this to YOU,
and a time when you can CHOOSE either to make a difference,
or to just ignore it . . .
choose to ignore it, and you forfeit your right to complain.
My Resignation from Adulthood
To Whom It May Concern:
I hereby officially tender my resignation as an adult.
I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a six-year-old again.
I want to go to McDonald's and think it's a four-star restaurant.
I want to think M&M's are better than money, because you can eat them.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks.
I want to play kickball during recess and paint with watercolors in art.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day.
I want to return to a time when life was simple.
When all you knew were colors, addition and simple nursery rhymes,
but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.
When all you knew was to be happy because you didn't know all the things that should make you worried and upset.
I want to think that the world is fair.
That everyone in it is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is possible.
Somewhere along the way I learned too much.
I learned of nuclear weapons, war, prejudice, starvation and abused children.
I learned of lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death.
I learned of a world where children knew how to kill . . . and did.
What happened to the time when we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn't grasp the concept of death?
When we thought the worst thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from us or picked us last for kickball?
I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little things once again.
I want to return to the days when reading was fun and music was clean.
When television was used to report the news or for family entertainment and not to promote sex, violence and deceit.
I would spend my afternoons climbing trees and riding my bike.
I didn't worry about time, bills or where I was going to find the money to fix my car.
I used to wonder what I was going to do or be when I grew up, not worry about what I would do if it didn't work out.
I want to live simple again.
I don't want my day to consist of:
computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness and the loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of:
smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind and making angels in the snow.
So . . . here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements.
I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, 'cause,
"Tag! You're it."
K.I.S.S.
Everyone has heard of the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid). And I am a big believer in keeping things as simple as possible. However some things are just NOT simple--no matter how much someone wishes they were. Some people try to make things more simple than they really are because they want them to be that way or because they don't want to deal with them. Anything can be made to appear simple just by refusing to see the complexities. If a person can do that and feel comfortable about it I guess that is good for them--though not necessarily for those around them. Instead of "keep it simple, stupid" I prefer the quote "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. (Albert Einstein)"
I know that many people complicate their own lives. I have done that in the past but I am getting much better at not doing it. On the other hand some situations aren't simple and were not created by me. And even if I get to the point of not making any of my simple problems complicated there will still be the large number of problems that really are complicated. And even if most of my problems start out simple and I am the one responsible for complicating them, you can never un-complicate things as easily as you complicate them. I have found that sometimes when I have complicated problems that I can't possibly solve I can keep your mind off of it by complicating a simple problem and concentrating on it.
There are times when a person knows very well what they should do--very simple decisions--but convincing their self to do it may be not so simple. Emotions and feelings can be complex even if the issue itself is simple. Often what complicates our lives are the people we relate to. I could simplify my life but it would require things I am not willing to do. I am more than willing to accept the complications that arise from caring.
The last thing you need to hear when you are trying to cope with a difficult situation is for someone to tell you to 'keep it simple, stupid'. Especially if that person doesn't know the details of your problems or has never dealt with a similar situation. Things always seem simpler if we are not the ones who has to do them. I recently ran across a quote that a person could use if someone tells you to 'keep it simple, stupid'.
"It ain't that simple and I ain't that stupid."
Or you can vary it to fit your situation:
Even I'm not stupid enough to think this is simple.
This isn't simple and I'm not stupid.
If you think this is simple, you're the one who's stupid.
To a stupid person, everything seems simple.
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Below are Songs about Easiness, plain, ordinary, obvious, natural, and simple.
- Ain't No Easy Roads - David Lynn Jones (1989)
- Ain't That Easy to Forget - Little Esther Phillips (1963)
- Am I That Easy to Forget? - Orion (1980)
- Answers Don't Come Easy - Sam Phillips (1987)
- Baby, Ride Easy - Carlene Carter and Dave Edmunds (1980)
- Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds (1969)
- Breakin' up is Easy - Jimmy Griffin (1974)
- Dancing Easy - Danny Williams (1977)
- Don't Make it Easy for Me - Earl Thomas Conley (1984)
- Dreamin' is Easy - Steel Breeze (1982)
- Ease My Troubled Mind - Ricochet (1997)
- Ease Up - Leon Ashley (1972)
- Easier Said Than Done - Radney Foster (1993)
- Easiest Way to Fall, The - Freda Payne (1969)
- Easy - The Commodores (1977)
- Easy As Falling Apart - Kelly Willis (2002)
- Easy as One, Two, Three - John Bunzow (1995)
- Easy As Pie - Billy 'Crash' Craddock (1975)
- Easy Come, Easy Go - George Strait (1993)
- Easy Does it - Hot Apple Pie (2006)
- Easy Evil - Travis Wammack (1975)
- Easy Fire - Craig Bickhardt (2001)
- Easy for Me to Say - Clint Black and Lisa Hartman (2001)
- Easy in Your Company - Cilla Black (1976)
- Easy, Like a Sunday Morning - Commodores (1977)
- Easy Lovin' - Freddy Hart (1971)
- Easy Lovin' You - Chalee Tennison (2004)
- Easy Now - Eric Clapton (1970)
- Easy on the Eyes - Andre Williams (1999)
- Easy on You - Micky Dolenz (1971)
- Easy Part's Over, The - Charley Pride (1968)
- Easy Ride - Alex Harvey (2000)
- Easy Rider Blues - The Weavers (1951)
- Easy Rider (Let the Wind Pay the Way) - Iron Butterfly (1970)
- Easy Street - The Edgar Winter Group (1974)
- Easy Substitute - Good Ol' Persons (2006)
- Easy to Be Hard - Three Dog Night (1969)
- Easy to Fall, Hard to Rise - Marcus Hummon (2001)
- Easy to Find - Girls Next Door (1987)
- Easy to Love - The Maines Brothers Band (1982)
- Easy to Love, So Hard to Get - The Chiffons (1964)
- Easy to Remember When You Want to Forget - The Limelites (1964)
- Easy to Say, Hard to Do - Bobby Lewis (1966)
- Easy Way Out - Blue Grass Boys (1967)
- Easy With You - Wendy Lee (2002)
- Easy's Gettin' Harder Every Day - Iris DeMent (1994)
- Feeling Uneasy - Etta James (1974)
- Forgiving You Was Easy - Willie Nelson (1985)
- Free and Easy, Down the Road I Go - Dierks Bentley (2007)
- Gentle to Your Senses, Easy on Your Mind - Mel McDaniel (1977)
- Giving up Easy - Leon Everette (1980)
- Go Down Easy - Dan Fogelberg (1985)
- Goes Down Easy - Van Zant (2007)
- Hardest Easy Thing, The - Jack Greene (1966)
- How to Be a Fool in Six Easy Lessons - Gary Paxton (1963)
- I Thought Leaving Would Be Easy - Terry Carisse (1988)
- If it Don't Come Easy - Tanya Tucker (1988)
- If it Was Easy - Ed Bruce (1983)
- Is Goodbye That Easy to Say - Debbie Reynolds (1963)
- It Ain't Easy - Shooter Jennings (2007)
- It Ain't Easy Bein' Easy - Janie Fricke (1982)
- It Ain't Easy Comin' Down - Charlene (1977)
- It Ain't Easy Lovin' Me - Ronnie Prophet (1977)
- It Don't Come Easy - Ringo Starr (1971)
- It Should Be Easier Now - Rusty Draper (1964)
- It Should Have Been Easy - The Whites (1987)
- It Was Always So Easy to Find an Unhappy Woman - Moe Bandy (1975)
- It Was Easier to Hurt Her - Wayne Fontana (1965)
- It Won't Be Easy to Forget - Johnny Sea (1958)
- It's Easier to Say Than Do - The Carol Lee Singers (1980)
- It's Easy to Remember - John Coltrane (1966)
- It's Easy to Say - Henry Mancini and His Orchestra (1979)
- It's Easy When You Know How - Lonesome Sundown (1965)
- It's Just Not That Easy - Lenny Welch (1962)
- It's Not Easy - Alan Price (1975)
- It's Not That Easy - Donnie Brooks (1962)
- It's So Easy - Linda Ronstadt (1977)
- Let Me Down Easy - Jim Glaser (1985)
- Lips That Kiss So Sweetly Can Lie So Easily - Jimmy Lee Fautheree (1951)
- Love Ain't No Easy Place to Be - Solomon Burke (1991)
- Love is Sometimes Easy - Sandy Posey (1979)
- Love Never Comes Easy - Helen Cornelius (1982)
- Love, Take it Easy on Me - LaCosta (1982)
- Lovin' Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again - Glaser Brothers (1981)
- Make it Easy on Yourself - The Walker Brothers (1965)
- Move Around Easy - Adolph Jacobs (1959)
- Nice 'n' Easy - Charlie Rich (1964)
- No Easy Goodbye - South Sixty-Five (1999)
- No Easy Horses - Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet (1987)
- No Easy Way Down - Gloria Lynne (1969)
- No Easy Way to Break Somebody's Heart - Livingston Taylor (1993)
- No One Said it Was Gonna Be Easy - Joe Sun (1984)
- Not Easy to Mend - Bryan Baker (2007)
- One Love, Over Easy - Sami Jo (1981)
- Over Easy - Terri Gibbs (1983)
- Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles (1973)
- Put Your Mind at Ease - Every Mother's Son (1967)
- Ride Me Down Easy - Bobby Bare (1973)
- Rock Me Easy - Jerry Crutchfield (1960)
- She Sure Makes Leaving Look Easy - Gene Watson (1983)
- She's Easy to Hold - Clay Walker (2001)
- She's Free, But She's Not Easy - Jim Glaser (1976)
- Shouldn't it Be Easier Than This? - Charley Pride (1987)
- Slow and Easy - Randy Barlow (1978)
- Slow 'n' Easy - Texas Swing (1976)
- Take it Easy - The Eagles (1972)
- Take it Easy on Me - Little River Band (1981)
- Takin' it Easy - Lacy J. Dalton (1981)
- Taking it Easy - Cisco Houston (1962)
- That's Easy for You to Say - Lamar Morris (2001)
- That's the Easy Part - Beth Nielsen Chapman (1990)
- There Ain't No Easy Horses - Schuyler, Knobloch and Bickhardt (1987)
- There Ain't No Easy Run - Dave Dudley (1968)
- There Ain't No Easy Way - Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott (2000)
- There's No Easy Way - James Ingram (1984)
- Too Easy Gone - Trader-Price (1990)
- Trying Hard Not to Be Easy - Judy Bailey (1983)
- Uneasy Rider - BR5-49 (2000)
- Wasn't it Easy, Baby? - Freddie Hart (1979)
- What's So Easy for Two is Hard for One - Mary Wells (1963)
- When Givin' up Was Easy - Ed Bruce (1985)
- Whoever Said it Was Easy - Wayne Toups (2004)
- Wish it Was As Easy - Clint Daniels (1999)
- Woman, Ease My Mind - Claude Gray (1973)
- Words Don't Come Easy - Mac Davis (1972)
- You Lay So Easy on My Mind - Bobby G. Rice (1973)
- You Made it Easy - Bill Anderson (1963)
- You Make it Look So Easy - Colleen Peterson (1977)
- You Make it Seem So Easy - The Kinleys (1998)
- You Make it Sound So Easy - Melvin Endsley (1960)
- You Make Life Easy - Joe Stampley (1976)
- You're Easy on the Eyes - Terri Clark (1998)
- You're Easy to Dance With - Fred Astaire (1942)
- You're Making it Easy - Liz Boardo (2006)
- You're Not Easy to Forget - Dottie West (1982)
- You're Too Easy to Remember - James O'Gwynn (1960)
Songs about Plain
- Just Plain Beautiful - Delaney and Bonnie (1969)
- Just Plain Dog - Studio Group (2000)
- Just Plain Hurt - Johnny Preston (1964)
- Just Plain Me - Kenny Price (1971)
- Plain and Simple Girl - Garland Green (1970)
- Plain Brown Wrapper - Gary Morris (1987)
- Plain Gold Ring - Nina Simone (1960)
- Plain Jane - Bobby Darin (1959)
- Plain Ole Country Me - Redd Stewart (1972)
- Plain Old Love - The Pretenders (1956)
- Plain Old Pain - Clay Davidson (2000)
- Thin Little, Simple Little, Plain Little Girl - Burnette (1969)
- Contrary to the Ordinary - Jerry Jeff Walker (1978)
- I'm Just an Ordinary Man - Latimore (1969)
- No Ordinary Memory - Bill Anderson (1987)
- Ordinary Average Guy - Joe Walsh (1991)
- Ordinary Day in the Life of a Fool - Dave Peel (1972)
- Ordinary Days - The Oak Ridge Boys (2005)
- Ordinary Fool - Paul Williams (1998)
- Ordinary Life - Chad Brock (1998)
- Ordinary Love - Shane Minor (1999)
- Ordinary Man - Bobby Cargill (2006)
- She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl - Alabama (1995)
- You're No Ordinary Memory - Sam Neely (1984)
- You're No Ordinary Woman - Junior Walker (1976)
- Beautifully Obvious - Deborah Lippmann (2007)
- Explaining the Obvious - Built For Speed (2005)
- Figuring Out the Obvious - My Morning Radio (2007)
- Flair for the Obvious - Barry D. Birch (2009)
- Isn't it Obvious? - The Spares (2001)
- It is That Obvious - Kelti Malone (2008)
- It Must Be Obvious - Pet Shop Boys (2008)
- It's Obvious - Timothy Brindle (2005)
- It's Obvious Now - The Hotel Alexis (2003)
- Long List of Obvious Reasons - Highway 101 (2003)
- Master of the Obvious - Brian Price (2008)
- Much Too Obvious - Shawn Rudiman (2008)
- Obvious - Heather Holley (2005)
- Obvious Choice - Inispeed (2008)
- Obvious Destination - Steven Wright-Mark (2008)
- Obvious Reasons - Scott Harlan (2008)
- Painfully Obvious - Lauren Fairweather (2008)
- So Obvious - Janine Marshall (2009)
- Unexpected Obvious, The - The Blue (2001)
- Act Naturally - Buck Owens and Ringo Starr (1989)
- Blues in D Natural - Earl Hooker (1960)
- Doin' What Comes Naturally - Freddy Martin (1946)
- It Comes to Me Naturally - Charlie Robison (2001)
- It Just Comes Natural - George Strait (2007)
- It's a Natural Thing - Jonathan Edwards (1989)
- Natural Beauty - Neil Young (1992)
- Natural Born Boogie - Humble Pie (1969)
- Natural Born Fool - Wendy Waldman (1973)
- Natural Disaster - Plain White T's (2008)
- Natural High - Merle Haggard (1985)
- Natural Love - Petula Clark (1982)
- Natural Man - Lou Rawls (1971)
- Natural Sinner - Fair Weather (1970)
- Natural Tan - Danko Jones (2006)
- Natural Thing - Kim Hill (1994)
- She's a Natural - Rob Crosby (1991)
- What Comes Naturally - Sheena Easton (1991)
- You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin (1967)
Songs about Simple Things
- As Simple As That - Mike Reid (1991)
- Give Me the Simple Life - Benny Goodman Band (1946)
- I Am a Simple Man - Ricky Van Shelton (1991)
- Keep it Simple - Chuck Pyle (1995)
- Keep it Simple, Stupid - Sid LeRock (2007)
- Love is a Simple Thing - Debbie Reynolds (1959)
- Plain and Simple Girl - Garland Green (1970)
- Pure and Simple - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1991)
- Say it Simple - Sixwire (2002)
- Simple Act of Kindness - Steve Leslie (2008)
- Simple Explanation, A - Gregory Simmons (2005)
- Simple Fascination - Jud Caswell (1998)
- Simple Gifts - Raffi (1994)
- Simple I Love You, A - Mandy Barnett (1996)
- Simple Life - Carolyn Dawn Johnson (2004)
- Simple Little Words - Christy Lane (1979)
- Simple Love Song, A - Randy and the Rainbows (1978)
- Simple Man - Charlie Daniels Band (1989)
- Simple Man, Simple Dream - J.D. Souther (1976)
- Simple Melody - Bing Crosby (1950)
- Simple Notion, A - Beneathme (2004)
- Simple Sing-a-Long Country Song - Joe Sun (1984)
- Simple Song of Freedom - Tim Hardin (1969)
- Simple Things - Amy Grant (2003)
- Simple Things in Life, The - Ray Pillow (1975)
- Simple Twist of Fate - The Jerry Garcia Band (1980)
- Stupid Simple Song - Pat MacDonald (1997)
- Simple-Minded Heart - Gene Watson (1993)
- Simplify - Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand (1999)
- Simply - Sara Hickman (1989)
- Simply Love - Holly Near (1978)
- Simply Meant to Be - Gary Morris (1987)
- Stupid Simple Song - Pat MacDonald (1997)
- Thin Little, Simple Little, Plain Little Girl - Burnette (1969)
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