Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

Although deceit is detestable in all other things, yet in the conduct of war it is laudable and honorable; and a commander who vanquishes an enemy by stratagem is equally praised with one who gains victory by force.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

It seems to me the worst possible concept, militarily, that we would simply stay there, resisting aggression, so-called...it seems to me that the way to "resist aggression" is to destroy the potentialities of the aggressor to continually hit you...When you say, merely, "we are going to continue to fight aggression," that is not what the enemy is fighting for. The enemy is fighting for a very definite purpose-to destroy our forces.

In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed.

What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.

Never completely encircle your enemy. Leave him some escape, for he will fight even more desperately if trapped.

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose.

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy.

Attack the enemy's strategy.

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.

In war one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it.

Rules are for children. This is war, and in war the only crime is to lose.

One makes war to win, not because it's just.

For me, Sun Tzu's statement that military force is based upon deception is an extraordinary statement.

Most wars are not won in a single battle.

In real war an officer may have only one chance at succeeding. Consider each problem.

The time has come when we must proceed with the business of carrying the war to the enemy, not permitting the greater portion of our armed forces and our valuable material to be immobilized within the continental United States.

Cutting down the enemy is the way of strategy, and there is no need for many refinements of it.

A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.

It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.

Warfare is the father of all good things, it is also the father of good prose!

There was an assumption that aerial bombing of civilians in World War II would cause fragile, working-class people to basically have nervous breakdowns and it would paralyze the state. That was the logic of aerial bombing. In fact, it doesn't happen at all, but the logic behind aerial bombing has never stopped, even though it never demoralizes, terrorizes, or paralyzes a population.

The basic principle that we must follow in directing the armies of the Republic is this: that they must feed themselves on war at the expense of the enemy territory.