The Wisdom of Simplicity

[John Houseman, Born: Jacques Haussmann, September 22, 1902 in Bucharest, Romania; Died: October 31, 1988 (age 86) in Malibu, CA, in the character of Mr. Wabash, DCI, he talks about his entry into the US intelligence field long ago]:

Mr. Wabash (talking to Higgins): "You seem perfect for it (the CIA) ..."
Higgins: "Thank you, sir."

Mr. Wabash: "Are you perfect for it, Mr. Higgins?"
Higgins: "I try to be."

Mr. Wabash: "We you recruited out of school?"
Higgins: "No, sir. The Company interview a few of us in Korea.
(compelled to flatter) You were with Mr. Donovan's OSS, weren't you, sir?"

Mr. Wabash: (smiles to remember): "I sailed the Adriatic with a movie star at the helm! It doesn't seem like much of a war now. But it was. (then says) ... I go even further back than that. Ten years after The Great War, as we used to call it. Before we knew enough to number them."
Higgins: "You miss that kind of action, sir?"

Mr. Wabash: "No ... I miss that kind of clarity."
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http://www.awesomefilm.com/script/ThreeDaysoftheCondor.pdf;
from movie script for "Three Days of the Condor," by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. and David Rayfiel. Ref: Revised draft, February 3, 1975 (Converted to PDF by ScreenTalk(tm), URL: www.screentalk.org
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Ref. also: Condorcet: "What happens at any particular moment [in this instance, to Mr. Wabash as he responds] is the result of what has happened at all previous moments, and itself has an influence on what will happen in the future."
http://www.humanistictexts.org/condorcet.htm

Paraphrased: We can see so far (into the past and the future) because we stand on the shoulders of all those who have come before us.

The Antithesis:
["There is no problem so simple that it cannot be made complex beyond understanding."]