Heinz Guderian Quotes

Something is wanting, and something must be done, or we shall be involved in all the horror of failure, and civil war without a prospect of its termination.

Wars: You know how you start, but you never know how you end.

If there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.

War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. ... war is the realm of chance. No other human activity gives it greater scope; no other has such incessant and varied dealings with this intruder. Chance makes everything more uncertain and interferes with the whole course of events.

Once thing goes wrong, then the whole house of cards collapses. And there's no way you can extricate yourself. Until someone comes along to drag you out.

War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance, and deranges the course of events.

In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself. In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final . Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.

All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.

Wars are to be won with swords and spears, not with rice and salt.

If America were in a just war I'd volunteer for the front line. I'd do the shuffling and win the war.

We cannot change the hearts of the people of the South, but we can make war so terrible that they will realize the fact that however brave and gallant and devoted to their country still they are mortal and should exhaust all peaceful remedies before they fly to war.

All delays are dangerous in war.

Should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.

Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper.

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting throught the wind, wanting to start again. Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in.

For WAR, consisteth not in Battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to content by Battle is sufficiently known.... So the nature of War, consisteth not in actual fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.

The greatest curse that can befall a free people, is civil war.

War is a series of disasters which result in a winner.

Our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that.

It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.

We shall kill. If you have not killed at least one German a day, you have wasted that day... Do not count days; do not count miles. Count only the number of Germans you have killed.

History and war are cruel pedants. Those who know too little of the former are likely to have too much of the latter.

No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.

There are many faces to war. There is the face of courage, of bravery, of fellowship.There is the face of fear. Above all, there is love of country.

In war, as in love, we must come into contact before we triumph.