Quotes About Minimalism

Problems can usually be solved with simple, mundane solutions. That means there's no glamorous work. You don't get to show off your amazing skills. You just build something that gets the job done and then move on. This approach may not earn you oohs and aahs, but it lets you get on with it.

Most people should miss out on most things most of the time.

The only way to get more done is to have less to do.

Fuck that. People should be missing out! Most people should miss out on most things most of the time. That's what we try to encourage at Basecamp. JOMO! The joy of missing out.

Pare down to the essence, but don't remove poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, buut don't sterilize.

Find a judo solution, one that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum effort.

It's the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify, and streamline. Be a curator. Stick to what's truly essential. Pare things down until you're left with only the most important stuff. Then do it again. You can always add stuff back in later if you need to.

When things aren't working, the natural inclination is to throw more at the problem. More people, time, and money. All that ends up doing is making the problem bigger. The right way to go is the opposite direction: Cut back.

Keep things clean and unencumbered but don't sterilize.*

Leonard Koren, author of a book on wabi-sabi, gives this advice: Pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered but don't sterilize.

When good enough gets the job done, go for it. It's way better than wasting resources or, even worse, doing nothing because you can't afford the complex solution.

But we're just as proud of what our products don't do as we are of what they do. We design them to be simple because we believe most software is too complex: too many features, too many buttons, too much confusion.

It's the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify, and streamline. Be a curator. Stick to what's truly essential.

It's the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify, and streamline. Be a curator.

Do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problems and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to the competition. Instead of one-upping, try one-downing. Instead of outdoing, try underdoing.

You need less than you think

The more simple you can make it allows your people to get really focused.

Be relentless about simplifying everything without exception.

Nietzsche, in a rare moment of deep stillness, wrote, "For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!…the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance—little maketh up the best happiness. Be still.

A large part of many people's lives is consumed by an obsessive preoccupation with things. This is why one of the ills of our times is object proliferation. When you can no longer feel the life that you are, you are likely to try to fill up your life with things.

For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!…the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance—little maketh up the best happiness. Be still."4

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.

Digo de mim 'sou eu'. E não digo mais nada. Que mais há a dizer?

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.