Carl Von Clausewitz

Any complex activity, if it is to be carried on with any degree of virtuosity, calls for appropriate gifts of intellect and temperament. If they are outstanding and reveal themselves in exceptional achievements, their possessor is called a 'genius'.

It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less by critical studies and learned monographs than by insights, broad impressions, and flashes of intuition.

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

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.

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

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.

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

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.

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.

There is only one decisive victory: the last.

The best form of defense is attack.

The world has a way of undermining complex plans. This is particularly true in fast moving environments. A fast moving environment can evolve more quickly than a complex plan can be adapted to it. By the time you have adapted, the target has changed.

Desperate affairs require desperate remedies.

Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.

The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.

We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.

All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.

The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.

[...] to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity

There are very few men-and they are the exceptions-who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment