Carl von Clausewitz

“המלחמה אינה אלא המשך המדיניות בתוספת אמצעים אחרים.”

“המלחמה היא מעשה אלימות, שמטרתו לאכוף את רצוננו על יריבנו.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“War is the continuation of politics by other means.”

“War is the province of danger.”

“Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.”

“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.”

“Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.”

“The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.”

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

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

“To secure peace is to prepare for war.”

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

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

“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.”

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