Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1857
The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great
things.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
23
If politics is the art of the possible, research is surely the art of the soluble.
—P. B. Medawar, 1964
Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
—Jonathan Kozol
24
I have little patience with scientists who take a board of wood, look for its thinnest part and
drill a great number of holes where drilling is easy.
—Albert Einstein, 1949
‘Tis Ambition enough to be employed as an Under-Laborer in clearing Ground a little, and
removing some of the Rubbish that lies in the way to Knowledge.
—John Locke, 1690
The most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more
ambitious goal beyond it.
—Arnold J. Toynbee
25
***
Simplicity is the peak of civilization.
—Jessie Sampter, 1927
Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.
—C. W. Ceram, 1951
It’s the Simple things that are really effective.
—Theodore Sturgeon, 1941
There is always a well-known solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and
wrong.
—H. L. Mencken, 1917
It was beautiful and simple, as all truly great swindles are.
—O. Henry, 1908
23
From his Notebook G (1779-1783).
24
As quoted, without a date, in several reputable collections, starting not later than 1981.
25
As quoted, without a date, by Edward Myers in 1955. Note that this maxim is sometimes
misattributed to the author’s uncle, Arnold Toynbee (1852-1883).
On Discoveries, Problems, and Solutions
11