25 Quotes by Karl Clausewitz
- War is the province of danger.
- The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.
- The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.
- 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.
- War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
- 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.
- War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.
- War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.
- The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.
- To secure peace is to prepare for war.
- War is the continuation of politics by other means.
- 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.
- Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.
- War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
- Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.
- Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.
- If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.
- It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
- 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.
- Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.
- A conqueror is always a lover of peace.
- Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.
- Politics is the womb in which war develops.
- Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.
- Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
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