Complexity Quotes

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  The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity.

  Richard Dawkins

  Health, Theory Of Evolution, Inspire

  Richard Dawkins (2015). “The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design”, p.300, W. W. Norton & Company

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• Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Simplicity, Intense

  Winston Churchill (2005). “The World Crisis, 1911-1918”, p.623, Simon and Schuster

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• Toleration of people who differ in convictions and habits requires a residual awareness of the complexity of truth and the possibility of opposing view having some light on one or the other facet of a many-sided truth.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Equality, Light, Views

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• I think the next century will be the century of complexity.

  Stephen Hawking

  Thinking, Next, Century

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• There is a new science of complexity which says that the link between cause and effect is increasingly difficult to trace; that change (planned or otherwise) unfolds in non-linear ways; that paradoxes and contradictions abound; and that creative solutions arise out of diversity, uncertainty and chaos.

  Andy Hargreaves

  Creativity, Science, Diversity

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• Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.

  Alan Perlis

  Life And Love, Suffering, Genius

  "Epigrams on Programming". ACM SIGPLAN Notices 17 (9), pp. 7-13, pu.inf.uni-tuebingen.de. September 1982.

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• The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.

  Fritjof Capra

  Ecosystems, Resilience, Networking

  Fritjof Capra (1996). “The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems”, Doubleday

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• Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to keep things simple.

  Richard Branson

  Simple, Entrepreneur, Challenges

  "What Richard Branson Told Me About Goal-Getting (And Creating a Life You Adore)" by Robin Sharma, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 15, 2013.

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• Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, 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

  Life, Appreciation, Thinking

  M. Scott Peck (1998). “Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

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• What is the alternative to understanding the complexity of the world?

  Atul Gawande

  Understanding, Alternatives, World

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• To manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Leadership, Integrity, Taken

  "On purposeful systems (1972)". "Thinking about Quality: Progress, Wisdom, and the Deming Philosophy". Book by Clare Crawford-Mason and Lloyd Dobyns, p. 40, 1994.

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• That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

  Steve Jobs

  Change, Inspiring, Life Changing

  "The 13 Most Memorable Quotes From Steve Jobs" by Dylan Love, www.businessinsider.com. October 5, 2011.

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• Don't let complexity stop you.

  Bill Gates

  Bill Gates' Commencement Address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, news.harvard.edu. June 7, 2007.

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• Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

  Confucius

  Inspirational, Life, Positive

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• Technical skill is mastery of complexity, while creativity is mastery of simplicity.

  Christopher Zeeman

  Truth, Creativity, Knowledge

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• Complexity is looking at interacting elements and asking how they form patterns and how the patterns unfold. It's important to point out that the patterns may never be finished. They're open-ended. In standard science this hit some things that most scientists have a negative reaction to. Science doesn't like perpetual novelty.

  W. Brian Arthur

  Important, Negative, Asking

  "Coming from Your Inner Self". www.presencing.org. April 16, 1999.

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• Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

  Alan Perlis

  Simplicity, Simple Life, Doe

  "Epigrams on Programming". ACM SIGPLAN Notices 17 (9), pp. 7-13, pu.inf.uni-tuebingen.de. September 1982.

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• We live in a rainbow of chaos.

  Paul Cezanne

  Love, Dream, Rainbow

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• Everything is complex and everything is simple. The rose has no why attached to it, it blooms because it blooms, how no thought of itself, or desire to be seen. What could be more complicated than a rose for someone who wants to understand it? What could be simpler for someone who wants nothing? The complexity of thinking, the simplicity of beholding.

  Andre Comte-Sponville

  Simple, Thinking, Rose

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• It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

  Albert Einstein

  Courage, Moving, Simple

  "Small is Beautiful". The Radical Humanist, Vol. 37, No. 5, (p. 22), August 1973.

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• The average teacher explains complexity; the gifted teacher reveals simplicity.

  Robert Breault

  Inspirational, Teacher, Teaching

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• Calvin: The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action. Once you are informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of gray. You realize nothing is as clear as it first appears. Ultimately, knowledge is paralyzing. Being a man of action, I cannot afford to take that risk. Hobbes: You're ignorant, but at least you act on it.

  Bill Watterson

  Men, Risk, Ignorant

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• Human nature is full of riddles and contradictions; its very complexity engenders art-and by art I mean the search for something more than simple linear formulations, flat solutions, oversimplified explanations.

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Art, Mean, Simple

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• Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.

  Edward de Bono

  Simple, Energy, Attention

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• My goal is to simplify complexity.

  Jack Dorsey

  Goal, Simplify

  Interview with Charlie Rose, charlierose.com. January 10, 2011.

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