wants help in locating a quotation which he remembers as: “Everything must be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

The reader specified no attribution :į.H.V. In 1963 a reader sent a letter to the “Queries and Answers” section of the New York Times attempting to gain information about the quotation. We try to keep in mind a saying attributed to Einstein-that everything must be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. In fields of specialized knowledge, we aim to render an account that is plain and simple, yet does no violence to the difficulty of the subject, so that the uninformed reader can understand us while the expert cannot fault us. In 1962 Time magazine printed a version of the quotation credited to Einstein in “A Letter From The Publisher.” The phrasing used is still distinct from the common modern version : The table of contents of the 1978 edition of the poem “A” says that section A-12 was composed in 19 :Įverything should be as simple as it can be, That year he also placed it in one of his poems. In June of 1950 Louis Zukofsky used the aphorism in the journal Poetry as discussed above. In January 1950 composer Sessions used the words “everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler” and stated that Einstein communicated this phrase “in effect”. QI thinks that the existence of this quotation supports the plausibility of the hypothesis that Roger Sessions did read or hear something from Albert Einstein that catalyzed the dissemination of the maxim. This sentence may be the origin of the much-quoted sentence that “everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler,” and its variants. The version reprinted in 1954 in Ideas and Opinions, 272, is a bit different. The words “simple,” “simplest,” and “simplicity” recur throughout the lecture. This is the Oxford University’ Press version. 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.įrom “On the Method of Theoretical Physics,” the Herbert Spencer Lecture, Oxford, June 10, 1933. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order starting in 1933.Īlice Calaprice the editor of “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” presented the following 1933 precursor quotation and comment in her reference work : Zukofsky also incorporated the saying in section A-12 of his massive poem titled “A”. Professor Mark Scroggins who has specialist knowledge of Zukofsky believes that the poet probably acquired the aphorism by reading the article by Sessions. The wording used by Sessions and Zukofsky is the same, and it differs somewhat from the most common modern version of the quote. There is also the other side of the coin minted by Einstein: “Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler” – a scientist’s defense of art and knowledge – of lightness, completeness and accuracy. The saying was credited to Einstein and placed inside quotation marks by Zukofsky. In June of 1950 the maxim appeared in the journal Poetry in a book review written by the prominent modernist poet Louis Zukofsky. Indeed, Einstein did express a similar idea using different words as shown by the 1933 citation given further below. Since Sessions used the locution “in effect” he was signaling the possibility that he was paraphrasing Einstein and not presenting his exact words. He said, in effect, that everything should be as simple as it can be but not simpler! I also remember a remark of Albert Einstein, which certainly applies to music. The New York Times published an article by the composer Roger Sessions on Janutitled “How a ‘Difficult’ Composer Gets That Way”, and it included a version of the saying attributed to Einstein : The earliest known appearance of the aphorism was located by poet and scholar Mark Scroggins and later independently by top-flight quotation researcher Ken Hirsch. This quotation prompts the most queries it appeared in Reader’s Digest in July 1977, with no documentation. Quote Investigator: The reference work “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” published in 2010 is the most comprehensive source for reliable information about the sayings of Albert Einstein, and it states : I like this saying because it compactly articulates the principle of Occam’s razor. I would like to know if the following is a real Einstein quote or if it is apocryphal:Įverything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Hence a large number of spurious quotes are attributed to him. Albert Einstein? Louis Zukofsky? Roger Sessions? William of Ockham? Anonymous?ĭear Quote Investigator: The credibility of a quotation is increased substantially if it can be ascribed to a widely-recognized genius such as Albert Einstein.

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