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About this quote

What does it mean?
Things appear both simple and complex at the same time.
In plain terms
Life is both easy and complicated.
What can you take from it?
Embrace both simplicity and depth in understanding.

Where it applies

  • problem solving
  • learning new skills

Putting it to work

  • break tasks into steps
  • explore underlying layers

Questions to consider

  • When have you felt something was both simple and complex?

Another view

The statement can be seen as vague.

More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  1. Everything in the world may be endured except continued prosperity.

    Permalink to quote #109
  2. He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.

    Permalink to quote #111
  3. Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.

    Permalink to quote #108

Related quotes

  1. It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

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  2. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

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  3. I like a thing simple but it must be simple through complication. Everything must come into your scheme, otherwise you cannot achieve real simplicity.

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