Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it.
War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.
In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.
Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.
A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.
The side that feels the lesser urge for peace will naturally get the better bargain.
Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.
Everything in strategy is very simple, but that does not mean everything is very easy.
War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.
The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.
War should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an instrument of policy.
Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.
Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war
Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity
Every age has its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions and its own peculiar preconceptions.
[...] to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity
If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy seek a solution elsewhere.
The important thing when you are going to do something brave is to have someone on hand to witness it.
There are very few men-and they are the exceptions-who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment
To achieve victory we must mass our forces at the hub of all power & movement. The enemy's 'Center of Gravity'
Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.
Tony Blair is already secretly grinning at the prospect of his third victory. You don't have to settle for that.
There is only one opinion poll that I am interested in and that is the one that will take place on election day.
War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others.
We cannot possibly take them all into this country [asylum seekers] - it is a completely unrealistic expectation.
The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.
Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.
The more a leader is in the habit of demanding from his men, the surer he will be that his demands will be answered.
Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper.
The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war.
The only situation a commander can know fully is his own: his opponent's he can know only from unreliable intelligence.
A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.
Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.
There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war.
Beauty cannot be defined by abscissas and ordinates; neither are circles and ellipses created by their geometrical formulas.
Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one's balance in spite of them.
Knowing is different from doing and therefore theory must never be used as norms for a standard, but merely as aids to judgment.
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 true use of history, whether civil or military, is not to make man clever for the next time, it is to make him wise forever.
What is Parliament for if it is not to be a means to make ministers accountable for the services for which they are responsible.
I am happy to debate the past with the Prime Minister... I have a big dossier on his past, and I did not even have to sex it up.
Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.
...as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.
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.
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.
Where absolute superiority is not attainable, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skillful use ofwhat you have.