Simplicity in planning fosters energy in execution. Strong determination in carrying through a simple idea is the surest route to success.

Attributed to General Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831)

I’m disappointed to learn that, like so many elegantly formed aphorisms, there is no record of von Clausewitz actually saying this. The nearest I can find is from his classic text, On War (Book 1, chapter 7):

“Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War, Suppose now a traveller, who towards evening expects to accomplish the two stages at the end of his day’s journey, four or five leagues, with post-horses, on the high road—it is nothing. He arrives now at the last station but one, finds no horses, or very bad ones; then a hilly country, bad roads; it is a dark night, and he is glad when, after a great deal of trouble, he reaches the next station, and finds there some miserable accommodation. So in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark. A powerful iron will overcomes this friction; it crushes the obstacles, but certainly the machine along with them. We shall often meet with this result. Like an obelisk towards which the principal streets of a town converge, the strong will of a proud spirit stands prominent and commanding in the middle of the Art of War.”

Image: By Wilhelm Wach – Unknown source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=695673