Carl von Clausewitz Quotes

I have every confidence in the ultimate success of our joint cause; but success in modern war requires something more than courage and a willingness to die: it requires careful preparation.

It is like when you go to war: we have to know how our enemies attack and defend.

In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war.

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

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

In strife who inquires whether stratagem or courage was used?

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.

We’re not going to win this war through polling.

He that makes war without many mistakes has not made war very long.

The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish ... the kind of war on which they are embarking.

The transition from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most delicate operations in war.

Success in war depends upon the golden rule of war.

If you want an expert on war, you get a retired general. I'm not exactly a general, but I am retired.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

Act after having made assessments. The one who first knows the measure of far and near wins - this is the rule of armed struggle.

A prince must not have any other object nor any other thought… but war, its institutions, and its discipline; because that is the only art befitting one who commands.

I think I was unprepared for war.

In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.

The secret of war lies in the communications.

In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything.

It is imperative to master the principles of the art of war and learn to be unmoved in mind even in the heat of the battle.

In war, only the simple succeeds.

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

One of the surest ways of forming good combinations in war would be to order movements only after obtaining perfect information of the enemy's proceedings. In fact, how can any man say what he should do himself; if he is ignorant what his adversary is about?