CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ

The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.

Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.

A conqueror is always a lover of peace.

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.

War is the province of danger.

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them