Full Idea
There is always in things a principle of determination which is based on consideration of maximum and minimum, such that the greatest effect is obtained with the least, so to speak, expenditure.
Gist of Idea
The principle of determination in things obtains the greatest effect with the least effort
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (On the Ultimate Origination of Things [1697], p.347)
Book Reference
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Leibniz Selections', ed/tr. Wiener,Philip P. [Scribners 1951], p.347
A Reaction
This is obvious in human endeavours. Leibniz applied it to physics, producing a principle that shortest paths are always employed. It has a different formal name in modern physics, I think. He says if you make an unrestricted triangle, it is equilateral.