Two Quotes on Simplicity
By leelefever on April 12, 2008 - 4:44pm.
The first is by Antione de Saint Exupéry, author of The Little Prince and a pioneer in aviation:
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
The second is by William of Occam (1288-1347) You might know the name from Occam's Razor.
It is vain to do more with what can be done with less.
These quotes mean a lot to me and were found, most recently, at the beginning of Chapter 5 of Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek. More on that later.
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Another one by George Orwell
Great quotes indeed!
I like this one as well, though it does not sound quite as universal:
"Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out."
Two Great Books
You mentioned two great books that I've read during this post: The 4-Hour Workweek, and The Little Prince.
A friend of mine passed The Little Prince to me just about a month ago.
I read The 4-Hour Workweek a while back, and am working on my second read through so I can complete the exercises.
Would you mind recommending some other books that have inspired you?
I recently bought The Back of the Napkin because of your enthusiasm about it in a prior post. I've almost finished that one.
Cheers!
Inspiring Books
Hi Donald,
I would say that the book that has been most influential to me in the past year has been Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. So many great thoughts on what makes idea sticky.
I really like some of the ideas from the 4 Hour Workweek, and we're both taking another look at the amount of time we waste in a day on things that don't matter. Maybe I'll have more time to read soon - even if Tim doesn't think I should. :)
Reading
The Four-Hour Workweek was great. I read it twice in a weekend, highlighting key points the second time.
I also recommend Dave Lakhani's "The Power of an Hour", as well as Michael Masterson's "Ready, Fire Aim", although I haven't finished it yet.
Dave's book really put my hours (not days) to work.
LESS = TAO
You should read about the Tao and the famous "Wu wei"
Here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei
Hey I have the same William
Hey I have the same William of Occam quote as my email sign off. It's clear that your passion for simple is strong consider the common craft videos...
and another,if i may...
"Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything" --- William of Ockham (1285-1349)
Simplicity
I haven't found anything yet to top this: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci
More for Less
happens to be the simple title of a book written by Andrew Spanyi about The Power of Process Management.
Another topic not readily understood by many leaders, related to interaction of social and technological means. I am looking forward (hint) a commoncraft video "Process Management in Plain English" may some day come to the rescue. I would need it for my company, yesterday.
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