day no. 15,123: use roads to march on; fields to fight on

"Use roads to march on; fields to fight on . . . when the roads are available for use, you save time and effort by staying on them until shot off." -- Patton

"If the essence of the operational level is deciding when and where to fight, operational mobility is the means by which we commit the necessary forces based on that decision." 
-- MCDP 1-2: Campaigning

When your goal is moving soldiers from one place to another, roads are your best bet and you do well to stay on them unless a battle pulls you off of them before you reach the intended destination. But once at the destination, engage battle in the fields, not on the roads.

Do not march on fields unless you're forced to and do not fight on roads unless you must

Ecclesiastes 10:10
If the iron is blunt,
and one does not sharpen the edge,
he must use more strength,
but wisdom helps one to succeed.

Wisdom knows what things are for and does with them what's best. Axes are for cutting down trees and sharpeners are for making better axes. You can't short cut it by using sharpeners to hack down trees or axes to sharpen sharpeners. Knowing how things work is a matter of knowing what they are for, when to use them and how to employ them.