Plans are worthless, but planning is everything

During a speech in November 1957 Eisenhower employed the saying again. He told an anecdote about the maps used during U.S. military training. Maps of the Alsace-Lorraine area of Europe were used during instruction before World War I, but educational reformers decided that the location was not relevant to American forces. So the maps were switched to a new location within the U.S. for planning exercises. A few years later the military was deployed and fighting in the Alsace-Lorraine: ²

I tell this story to illustrate the truth of the statement I heard long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of “emergency” is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.

so says Quote Investigator.  Eisenhower’s speech can be found here.  Nixon picked up the quote in

I remember learning at the Nixon library about Nixon’s writing routine when he wrote this book in a house in Apple Valley, CA:

He used a Dictaphone or wrote longhand, working in seclusion, according to Esquire Magazine.
For breakfast, he ate a bowl of Grape Nuts and drank a can of orange juice. He wrote until noon, then paused for a ham sandwich.

Believe I first heard Eisenhower’s quote from Jeff Melvoin at a WGA showrunner training like mini-camp.  I’ve found it profound.

One time a female Uber driver told me the secret to winning over women is “plan ahead.”

A brief skim of Eisenhower images on NARA.GOV leads us to this gem

General Eisenhower’s dog, Telek, poses for photographers on top of desk. [65-658]