Carl von Clausewitz

“casualty reports on either side are never accurate, seldom truthful, and in most cases deliberately falsified.”

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

“Válka je jen pokračování diplomacie jinými prostředky.”

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

“The conqueror is always a lover of peace; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.”

“The aggressor is always peace-loving (as Bonaparte always claimed to be); he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.”

“Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“Essentally combat is an expression of hostile feelings. But in the large-scale combat that we call war hostile feelings often have become merely hostile intentions. At any rate, there are usually no hostile feelings between individuals. Yet such emotions can never be completely absent from war. Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves as a more or less substitute for the hatred between individuals. Even when there is no natural hatred and no animosity to start with, the fighting itself will stir up hostile feelings: violence committed on superior orders will stir up the desire for revenge and retaliation against the perpetrator rather than against the powers that ordered the action. It is only human (or animal, if you like), but it is a fact.”

“Thus it has come about that our theoretical and critical literature, instead of giving plain, straightforward arguments in which the author at least always knows what he is saying and the reader what he is reading, is crammed with jargon, ending at obscure crossroads where the author loses its readers. Sometimes these books are even worse: they are just hollow shells. The author himself no longer knows just what he is thinking and soothes himself with obscure ideas which would not satisfy him if expressed in plain speech.”

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

“...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.”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“War is such a dangerous business that mistakes that come from kindness are the very worst.”

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

“War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.”

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

“If we read history with an open mind, we cannot fail to conclude that, among all the military virtues, the energetic conduct of war has always contributed most to glory and success.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.”

“Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult”

“There are cases in which the greatest daring is the greatest wisdom.”

“Pity the theory which sets itself in opposition to the mind! It cannot repair this contradiction by any humility, and the humbler it is so much the sooner will ridicule and contempt drive it from real life.”

“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.”