<p>On the <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius" rel="nofollow">wikipedia page for Confucius</a>, in the "Misattributed" section, you can find this quote:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.</p>
  
  <p>Attributed on the internet but not found in print prior to an attribution in Aero Digest, 1949, p. 115</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-12T11:06:55.587Z
Some source shows it's actually from 《新唐书·陆象先传》： "天下本无事，庸人扰之为烦耳。" a.k.a the well-known saying "世上本无事，庸人自扰之。"
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-12T14:13:03.920Z
@Stan I think that comment should be an answer.
KWeiss
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-12T15:10:56.487Z
@KWeiss Haven't done enough search work. Maybe Confucius had said something similar. So I didn't put it as an answer.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-12T10:53:06.343Z
2016-05-12T10:53:06.343Z
He Huang
<p>I was browsing <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.brainyquote.com/</a> website and found that the top one quote on hot topic "life" is an quote from Confucius(<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_life.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_life.html</a>):</p>

<p>"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"</p>

<p>I do read part of <em>The Analects of Confucius</em> however I doesn't remember any quote with similar meaning. what is the exact original/source text of quote above? How should I translate it to Chinese? I have tried google translation but only get Vernacular Chinese sentence which of course could not be the original one.</p>

<translation><traditional-characters>
what is the of exact original/source text of "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"
# what is the of exact original/source text of "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-05-12)

I was browsing <http://www.brainyquote.com/> website and found that the top one quote on hot topic "life" is an quote from Confucius(<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_life.html>):

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated"

I do read part of *The Analects of Confucius* however I doesn't remember any quote with similar meaning. what is the exact original/source text of quote above? How should I translate it to Chinese? I have tried google translation but only get Vernacular Chinese sentence which of course could not be the original one.

**Tags:** translation, traditional-characters


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-05-12. Score: 2

On the [wikipedia page for Confucius](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius), in the "Misattributed" section, you can find this quote:

> Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
>
> Attributed on the internet but not found in print prior to an attribution in Aero Digest, 1949, p. 115

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Some source shows it's actually from 《新唐书·陆象先传》： "天下本无事，庸人扰之为烦耳。" a.k.a the well-known saying "世上本无事，庸人自扰之。"  
> **username_3**: @username_2 I think that comment should be an answer.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 Haven't done enough search work. Maybe Confucius had said something similar. So I didn't put it as an answer.  

---

