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There are also a great many aphorisms and witticisms whose attribution seems to gravitate towards an especially well known and respected eminence, although actu
by pash 11y ago
There are also a great many aphorisms and witticisms whose attribution seems to gravitate towards an especially well known and respected eminence, although actually said by someone lesser known. One example, widely misattributed to Leonardo da Vinci:
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Those words were written by William Gaddis, in his novel The Recognitions.)
- ekianjo 11y ago> One example, widely misattributed to Leonardo da Vinci: Whoever believes that in the first place is also mistaken that such concepts/wording as "sophistication" actually existed at the time.
- dang 11y agoIndeed, and the closest equivalents (like sophistry) were taken for granted as a bad thing.
- jonny_eh 11y agoda Vinci was Italian, so of course those exact words couldn't be used.
- dang 11y agoThe roots in the quote are all Latin, so close enough. But the point isn't the literal words, it's that "sophistication" is a modern concept that would have seemed strange and probably repugnant in Leonardo's time. I'm pretty sure that even Gaddis intended the phrase ironically. The Recognitions is a novel about fraud.