less is more

less is more

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 June 14, "‘Less Is More’," Time:

     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 March 3, Gia Kourlas, "Dance Review: An Ordered World Defined With Soothing Spareness," New York Times (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.

Synonyms

• little goes a long way (some contexts)

Antonyms

• less is a bore
• more is more

Translations

less is more

Arabic: الْأَقَلّ هُوَ الْأَكْثَر‎ m (al-ʾaqall huwa l-ʾakṯar), الْقُلَّى هِيَ الْكُثْرَى‎ f (al-qullā hiya l-kuṯrā) Chinese: Mandarin: 少即是多 (shǎojíshìduō), 物以稀为贵 (zh) (wùyǐxīwéiguì) Czech: méně je více Dutch: minder is meer

German: weniger ist mehr Korean: 적은 것이 더 많다 (jeogeun geosi deo manta) Persian: هرچه کمتربهتر‎ Portuguese: menos é mais Scottish Gaelic: is fheàrr an teine beag a gharas na an teine mòr a loisgeas