Carl von Clausewitz

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

— Carl von Clausewitz

If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, 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.

— Carl von Clausewitz

War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.

— Carl von Clausewitz

To introduce into the philosophy of War itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity.

— Carl von Clausewitz

War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Action in war is like movement in a resistant element. Just as the simplest and most natural of movements, walking, cannot easily be performed in water, so in war it is difficult for normal efforts to achieve even moderate results.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing practical to alter or deflect the impulse to destroy the enemy, which is central to the very idea of war.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The worst of all conditions in which a belligerent can find himself is to be utterly defenseless.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...in the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

With uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the balance. The greater they are, the greater the margin that can be left for accidents.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...the side that feels the lesser urge for peace will naturally get the better bargain.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Our discussion has shown that while in war many different roads can lead to the goal, to the attainment of the political object, fighting is the only possible means.

— 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'.

— Carl von Clausewitz

If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, 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.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...the role of determination is to limit the agonies of doubt and the perils of hesitation when the motives for action are inadequate.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Of all the passions that inspire a man in a battle, none, we have to admit, is so powerful and so constant as the longing for honor and reknown.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Architects and painters know precisely what they are about as long as they deal with material phenomena. … But when they come to the aesthetics of their work, when they aim at a particular effect on the mind or on the senses, the rules dissolve into nothing but vague ideas.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...soldierly simplicity of character that has always represented the military at its best. In the higher ranks it is different. The higher a man is placed, the broader his point of view. Different interests and a wide variety of passions, good and bad, will arise on all sides. Envy and generosity, pride and humility, wrath and compassion - all may appear as effective forces in this great drama.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The more physical the activity, the less the difficulties will be. The more the activity becomes intellectual and turns into motives which exercise a determining influence on the commander's will, the more the difficulties will increase.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Knowledge in war is very simple, being concerned with so few subjects, and only with their final results at that. But this does not make its application easy.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...an intellectual instinct which extracts the essence from the phenomena of life, as a bee sucks honey from a flower. In addition to study and reflections, life itself serves as a source.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Knowledge must be so absorbed into the mind that it ceases to exist in a separate, objective way."

— Carl von Clausewitz

...it is better to go on striking in the same direction than to move one's forces this way and that.

— Carl von Clausewitz

There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Anyone who feels the urge to undertake such a task must dedicate himself for his labors as he would prepare for a pilgrimage to distant lands. He must spare no time or effort, fear no earthly power or rank, and rise above his own vanity or false modesty in order to tell, in accordance with the expression of the Code Napoléon, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

— Carl von Clausewitz

A prince or general can best demonstrate his genius by managing a campaign exactly to suit his objectives and his resources, doing neither too much nor too little.

— Carl von Clausewitz

What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become evident in the final success.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Where execution is dominant, as it is in the individual events of a war whether great or small, then intellectual factors are reduced to a minimum.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...in war, the advantages and disadvantages of a single action could only be determined by the final balance.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The commander's talents are given greatest scope in rough hilly country. Mountains allow him too little real command over his scattered units and he is unable to control them all; in open country, control is a simple matter and does not test his ability to the fullest.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Boldness will be at a disadvantage only in an encounter with deliberate caution, which may be considered bold in its own right, and is certainly just as powerful and effective; but such cases are rare.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Timidity is the root of prudence in the majority of men.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Boldness governed by superior intellect is the mark of a hero.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Beauty cannot be defined by abscissas and ordinates; neither are circles and ellipses created by their geometrical formulas.

— Carl von Clausewitz

If a segment of one's force is located where it is not sufficiently busy with the enemy, or if the troops are on the march - that is, idle - while the enemy is fighting, then these forces are being managed uneconomically. In this sense they are being wasted, which is even worse than using them inappropriately.

— Carl von Clausewitz

...any move made in a state of tension will be of more important, and will have more results, than it would have made in a state of eqilibrium. In times of maximum tension this importance will rise to an infinite degree.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The state of crisis is the real war; the equilibrium is nothing but its reflex.

— Carl von Clausewitz

All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Chapter 2.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Chapter 5

— Carl von Clausewitz

Chapter 11.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

— Carl von Clausewitz