#complexity

For us to deem a work of architecture elegant, it is hence not enough that it look simple: we must feel that the simplicity it displays has been hard won, that it flows from the resolution of demanding technical or natural predicament. Thus we call the Shaker staircase in Pleasant Hill elegant because we know--without ever having constructed one ourselves--that a staircase is a site complexity, and that combinations of treads, risers and banisters rarely approach the sober intelligibility of the Sharkers' work. We deem a modern Swiss house elegant because we not how seamlessly its windows have been joined to their concrete walls, and how neatly the usual clutter of construction has been resolved away. We admire starkly simple works that we intuit would, without immense effort, have appeared very complicated. (p 209) ↗

— Alain de Botton

#complexity #complicated #construction #design #elegance

Being a food show and being me, I always kicked it up a notch, which means I would always elevate the spice level or the complexity of a particular dish. So, it was always like we're going to kick this up a little bit. ↗

— Emeril Lagasse

#being #bit #complexity #dish #elevate

In my piano concerto I developed this polyphony to much higher complexity. ↗

— Gyorgy Ligeti

#concerto #developed #higher #i #much

Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future. ↗

— Michael Palin

#around #believe #complexity #corner #diversity

From time immemorial, man has desired to comprehend the complexity of nature in terms of as few elementary concepts as possible. ↗

— Abdus Salam

#comprehend #concepts #desired #elementary #few

There's something in this country that is so opposed to understanding the complexity of children. ↗

— Maurice Sendak

#complexity #country #opposed #something #understanding

Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves. ↗

— Herbert Simon

#behaving #behavior #beings #complexity #environment

What we call 'evil' doesn't necessarily deserve any kind of respect or understanding, by any means; it just deserves an acknowledgement of its complexity so we can better understand it - so we can help prevent it. ↗

— Bryan Singer

#any #better #call #complexity #deserve

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite. ↗

— Thomas Sowell

#complexity #does #growing #imply #intellectual

Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. ↗

— Edwin Way Teale

#eliminating #labors #life #needless #reduce