Later variant: For many years now, you and I have been shushed like children and told there are no simple answers to the complex problems which are beyond our comprehension. Well, the truth is, there are simple answers, they just are not easy ones.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- He challenges the idea that complex problems have no simple answers, noting that simple answers may be hard to implement.
- In plain terms
- People say problems are too complex for simple answers, but simple answers exist even if they are not easy.
- What can you take from it?
- Solutions can be simple in concept but difficult to execute.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Are simple answers always right?
- How do we find clarity?
Another view
It may oversimplify issues that are genuinely complex.
More from Ronald Reagan
They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer - not an easy answer - but simple.
Permalink to quote #27 Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call …
Permalink to quote #26 Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this [surrender], but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement,…
Permalink to quote #30
Related quotes
If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?
Jane WagnerJane Wagner quote #16 If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.
Bill GatesBill Gates quote #27 All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John ArbuthnotJohn Arbuthnot quote #1