Make explanations as simple as possible, but not simpler.
The as-simple-as-possible phrasing is a later paraphrase, not a verified Einstein quotation. The qualification is what earns it a place — Occam's razor without it licenses oversimplification.
In practice
- A model cut to three variables predicts the pilot and fails the rollout, because the fourth variable was the one that moved.
- An outage explained as human error is simple, fits the facts, and removes from view the four conditions that let one keystroke matter.
- Standing
- The as-simple-as-possible phrasing is a later paraphrase, not a verified quotation.
- Subject
- Decision-making & Reasoning
- Essay
- Paradoxes that broke theories, and sayings that outlived them