The entrance of thy wordsgiveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Psalms119:130.

All known religious beliefs, whether simple or complex, present one common characteristic: they presuppose a classification of all things, real and ideal, of which men think, into two classes or opposed groups, generally designated†profane and sacred.

-Durkheim, EŁ  mile
  The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (translated by Joseph Ward Swain,1965).

Everything should be madeassimpleaspossible, but not simpler.

-Einstein, Albert
Quoted in Newsweek,16  Apr1979.

L'univers†je l'en estime plus depuis que je sais qu'il ressemble a'   une montre; il est surprenant que l'ordre de la nature, tout admirable qu'il est, ne roule que sur des choses si simples. I have come to esteem the universe more now that I know it resembles a watch; it is surprising that the order of nature, as admirable as it is, only runs on such simple things.

-Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de
  Entretiens sur la pluralite¤   des mondes.

I think business is very simple.Profit. Loss. Take the sales, subtract the costs, you get this big positive number. The math is quite straightforward.

-Gates, Bill (William Henry III)
  Quoted in the US News and World Report,15 Feb.

The poet is the unsatisfied child who dares to ask the difficult question which arises from the schoolmaster's answer to his simple question, and then the still more difficult question which arises from that.

-Graves, Robert von Ranke
Recalled on his death,7 Dec1985.

She is the Enid Blyton of economics.Nothing must be allowed to spoil her simple plots.

-Holme (of Cheltenham), Richard Holme, Baron
  Of Margaret  Thatcher. Speech at the Liberal Party conference,10 Sep.

Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems.

-Hopper, Grace Murray
Quoted in the OCLC Newsletter, no.167, Mar/ Apr1987.

Le vrai est trop simple, il faut y arriver toujours par le complique¤  . Truth is too simple; it must always be arrived at in a complicated manner.

-Samuelson, Sir Sydney
  Letter to Armand Barb e' s, May.

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow thou me!' and setsustothetaskswhich Hehastofulfil forour time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple,He will reveal Himself inthetoils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience who He is.

-Schweitzer, Albert
  Von Reimarus zuWrede (translated byW Montgomery as The Quest for the HistoricalJesus,1910).

Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand, Like some of the simple great ones gone For ever and ever by, One still strong man in a blatant land, Whatever they call him, what care I, Aristocrat, democrat, autocratöone Who can rule and dare not lie.

-Tennyson
  Maud, pt.1, sect.10, stanza 5, l.389^95.

Esta gente e¤   boa e de boa simplicidade. E imprimir-se-a¤ ligeiramente neles cualquer cunho, que les quiserem dar. E logo lhes, Nosso Senhor, deu bons corpos e bons rostos, como a bons homens, e Ele que nos por aqui trouxe, creio que na‹  o foi sem causa. E portanto,Vossa Alteza, pois tanto deseja acrescentar na santa fe¤   cato¤ l ica, deve entender em sua salva c° a‹  o. These people are good and simple.You can stamp on them any design that you wish to give them. And Our Lord gave them good bodies and good faces, and I think that it was his plan that we arrive here. Therefore,Your Majesty, since you wish so much to increase Catholic faith, you must provide for their salvation.

-Vaz de Caminha, Pero
Carta (published1817).

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.

-Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills
  Algernon.The Importance of Being Earnest, act1.

For the beginning is assuredly the endösince we know nothing, pure and simple, beyond our own complexities.

-Williams,William Carlos
  Paterson, bk.1, preface.