One somewhat similar phrase that appears occasionally in English is "simple but eloquent," where eloquent may have either a literal or a figurative meaning (as expressed in Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003):
eloquent adj (14c) 1 : marked by forceful and fluent expression {an eloquent preacher} 2 : vividly or movingly expressive or revealing {an eloquent monument}
Here are a few examples of how "simple but eloquent" has been used through the years. From Dietrich Stöver, The Life of Sir Charles Linnæus, Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, &c. &c. (1794):
He [Count Tessin] ordered a medal to be struck, representing on one side, the bust of LINNÆUS, and on the other three crowns, on which the sun casts his beams, with this simple but eloquent motto : Illustrat—He illumines.
From The [Philadelphia] Columbian Star, and Christian Index (August 14, 1830):
We shall leave the administration to speak for itself. We shall permit the simple exhibition of the ordinance to plead its own cause. It will urge its own claims with more power and effect than any arguments which we could employ. It will make an appeal, tacit if you please, but touching—simple, but eloquent—devoid of the pomp of circumstance; but fraught with the interest which a presiding Divinity is able to impart.
From Albert Spalding, "A Violin Master's Contribution," in The Bookman (July 1921):
Personal experiences and anecdotes of more than half a century rich with great memories, color the pages. No music lover can fail to feel his pulses quicken at the simple but eloquent drawing of such portraits as Joachim, Wieniawski, and Vieuxtemps.
From Joseph Hull, Perspective Drawing: Freehand and Mechanical (1964):
The sketch shon in Figure 71 was drawn entirely freehand, with the assurance and skill of the professionl architect. Note what a remarkably straight line training and practice can produce--the kind o line we often hear the lay person say he cannot draw! Practice does indeed make perfect!
Note the esoteric line the architect uses to "fill in the space of sky--a few simple but eloquent lines to suggest clouds.
From Jimmy Carter, "Remarks at a Wreathlaying Ceremony at the Airlift Memorial" (July 15, 1978), in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1978 (1979):
I am sobered but proud to be with you today at this historic time, to pay my respects to the 78 Americans, Britons, and Germans who lost their lives in the [Berlin] Airlift and who are honored by this simple but eloquent memorial.
From Lawrence Berkove, A Prescription for Adversity: The Moral Art of Ambrose Bierce (2002):
From 1871 to 1891, Bierce's art of the short story was to develop immensely, but even at its peak of excellence it retained essential similarities to the local-color tradition from which it began; even at its mot indirect and "cynical," it was inspirited by the same generous feeling for victims of life that is explicitly manifested by the first-person narrator of "The Haunted Valley" in his simple but eloquent gesture of compassion for the grief-maddened Gopher: "I followed the little wretch back to his wagon and wrung his hand at parting" (154).
