English

Proverb

less is more

1. That which is less complicated is often better understood and more appreciated than what is more complicated; simplicity is preferable to complexity; brevity in communication is more effective than verbosity.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto poem in Men and Women collection:

     Well, less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged.

   • 1954, "'Less Is More'," Time, 14 Jun.:

     The essence of Mies's architectural philosophy is in his famous and sometimes derided phrase, "Less is more." This means, he says, having "the greatest effect with the least means."

   • 2007, Gia Kourlas, "Dance Review: An Ordered World Defined With Soothing Spareness," New York Times, 3 Mar. (retrieved 22 Oct. 2008):

     The program, which features two premieres—"Songs," a solo, and "The Pleasure of Stillness," a quartet—is founded on the notion that less is more.

Usage notes

• This was the motto of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a proponent of minimalism in architecture.

Translations