American politics is a struggle, not of men but of forces. The men become every year more and more creatures of force, massed about central power houses.
Henry AdamsRead
Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Simplicity can often appear alluring, yet it can also lead to misunderstandings and complexities beneath the surface.
Henry Adams warns that simplicity may seem appealing and straightforward, but it can be misleading and deceptive. People often fall into the trap of underestimating the complexities that lie beneath seemingly simple things, leading to unforeseen consequences and betrayals.
Themes
SimplicityDeceptionComplexityPhilosophyBetrayal
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about design, one might reference this quote to highlight the pitfalls of oversimplifying a concept.
More from Henry Adams
All quotes βOf all studies, the one he would rather have avoided was that of his own mind. He knew no tragedy so heartrending as introspection.
Henry AdamsRead
Church and State, Soul and Body, God and Man, are all one at Mont Saint Michel, and the business of all is to fight, each in his own way, or to stand guard for each other.
Henry AdamsRead
The American President resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.
Henry AdamsRead
The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self, a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim's sympathies.
Henry AdamsRead
Man is an imperceptible atom always trying to become one with God.
Henry AdamsRead
Similar quotes
The history of Buenos Aires is written in its telephone directory. Pompey Romanov, Emilio Rommel, Crespina D. Z. de Rose, Ladislao Radziwil, and Elizabeta Marta Callman de Rothschild - five names taken at random from among the R's - told a story of exile, desolation, disillusion, and anxiety behind lace curtains.
Bruce ChatwinRead
How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.
Thomas AquinasRead
Possibly, more people kill themselves and others out of hurt vanity than out of envy, jealousy, malice or desire for revenge.
Iris MurdochRead
I was devastated when I got the review for my first book. The book came out a couple years before the women's movement broke through, and people were putting it down, asking, 'Why does the woman in this book need to get a divorce? Why can't she just shut up and be happy?'
Gail SheehyRead
Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to.
Lewis CarrollRead
Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.
Richard DawkinsRead