Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler

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Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Hi,

I guess the above was uttered by Albert Einstein. Does it mean: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler than it should be? If not, what does it mean? Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

I guess the above was uttered by Albert Einstein. Does it mean: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler than it should be? Yes. If not, what does it mean?

I have lifted the following section from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

What Einstein said was actually the words in bold.

Yours is a simplified version of it.

It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.

"On the Method of Theoretical Physics" The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered at Oxford (10 June 1933); also published in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1934), pp. 163-169. [thanks to Dr. Techie @ www.wordorigins.org and JSTOR]
Variants: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.
This is very similar to "Occam's Razor", with the addition that it warns about too much simplicity. Dubbed ''Einstein's razor, it is used when an appeal to Occam's razor results in an over-simplified explanation insufficient to meet needs or goals. It is also similar to one expression of what has become known as the "KISS principle": Keep It Simple, Stupid — but never oversimplify.

Best wishes, Clive

Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler

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