--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reduction! One wants to say more than…" description: "\"Reduction! One wants to say more than nature and one makes the impossible mistake of wanting to say it with more means than she, instead of fewer.\" — P..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccb/paul-klee-4253_failure_reduction-one-wants-to-say-more-than-nat_1519334.jpg" --- # Reduction! One wants to say more than nature and one makes… ![“Reduction! One wants to say more than nature and one makes the impossible mistake of wanting to say it with more means than she, instead of fewer.” quote by Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccb/paul-klee-4253_failure_reduction-one-wants-to-say-more-than-nat_1519334.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccb/paul-klee-4253_failure_reduction-one-wants-to-say-more-than-nat_1519334.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ccb/paul-klee-4253_failure_reduction-one-wants-to-say-more-than-nat_1519334.jpg) > “Reduction! One wants to say more than nature and one makes the impossible mistake of wanting to say it with more means than she, instead of fewer.” [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates using minimal means to express ideas, warning against overcomplicating language beyond nature's simplicity. **In simple terms:** Use fewer words to convey meaning. Key Takeaway Simplify expression. Themes simplicity communication artistic restraint Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing - public speaking - design - teaching Key Concepts minimalism ling of expression Questions to Reflect On - How can you convey depth with fewer words? - When is complexity necessary? 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Physics concerns what we say about Nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niels-bohr/it-is-wrong-to-think-that-the-task-of-physics-is-to-find-out-how/) [Niels Bohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niels-bohr/) > [“Nature, who has played so many queer tricks upon us, making us so unequally of clay and diamonds, of rainbow and granite, and stuffed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/nature-who-has-played-so-many-queer-tricks-upon-us-making-us-so/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Local and state governments have outrun the federal government. 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All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-creation-lives-as-genesis-beneath-the-visible-surface-of-the-work/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [The more horrible this world (as today, for instance), the more abstract our art, whereas a happy world brings forth an art of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-more-horrible-this-world-as-today-for-instance-the-more-abstract/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Children also have artistic ability, and there is wisdom in there having it! The more helpless they are, the more instructive are the examples…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/children-also-have-artistic-ability-and-there-is-wisdom-in-there/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/color-is-the-place-where-our-brain-and-the-universe-meet/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [See with one eye, feel with the other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/see-with-one-eye-feel-with-the-other/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [“After all, it's rather difficult to achieve the exact minimum, and it involves risks.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/after-all-it-s-rather-difficult-to-achieve-the-exact-minimum-and-it/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [The worst state of affairs is when science begins to concern itself with art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-worst-state-of-affairs-is-when-science-begins-to-concern-itself/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [What my art probably lacks is a kind of passionate humanity... There is no sensuous relationship, not even the noblest, between myself and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/what-my-art-probably-lacks-is-a-kind-of-passionate-humanity-there-is/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [The pictorial work was born of movement, is itself recorded movement, and is assimilated through movement (eye muscles).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-pictorial-work-was-born-of-movement-is-itself-recorded-movement/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Democracy with its semi-civilization sincerely cherishes junk. The artists power should be spiritual. But the power of the majority is material. When these worlds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/democracy-with-its-semi-civilization-sincerely-cherishes-junk-the/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [My hand is entirely the implement of a distant sphere. It is not my head that functions but something else, something higher, something somewhere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/my-hand-is-entirely-the-implement-of-a-distant-sphere-it-is-not-my/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [I have a clear view of 12 years of history of my inner self. First the cramped self, that self with big blinkers, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/i-have-a-clear-view-of-12-years-of-history-of-my-inner-self-first-the/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [When looking at any significant work of art, remember that a more significant one probably has had to be sacrificed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/when-looking-at-any-significant-work-of-art-remember-that-a-more/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [Colour has taken hold of me; no longer do I have to chase after it. I know that it has hold of me forever.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/colour-has-taken-hold-of-me-no-longer-do-i-have-to-chase-after-it-i/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) [Explore all 111 Paul Klee quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 27,498 Failure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Reduction! 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