The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simple.

West’s aphorism diagnoses a double bind in human understanding. On one side, people struggle to absorb realities that demand sustained attention, technical knowledge, or nuanced thinking; complexity overwhelms. On the other, even when a truth is plain—moral commonplaces, basic lessons of history, obvious facts about human nature—it is easily neglected, rationalized away, or forgotten in the press of desire and habit. The line implies that ignorance is not merely a lack of information but a structural weakness of attention and memory, and it hints at why societies oscillate between simplistic slogans and bafflement before intricate problems. It is also a warning to writers and educators: clarity alone does not guarantee retention.