Quotes by
Carl von Clausewitz |
1780-1831 , Prussian military theorist
Prussian general and military theorist whose work Vom Kriege (1832 – “On War”), though unfinished at his death, is considered a classic on military strategy and theory. | 20 quotes | 318 visits |
Quotations
| • | War is the continuation of politics by other means. 3 |
| • | Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense. 1 |
| • | Although our logic seeks clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty exciting. 1 |
| • | No military leader became great without audacity. 1 |
| • | It is better to act quickly and be wrong than to hesitate and let the time for action pass. 1 |
| • | There can only be one decisive victory: the last one. 1 |
| • | In war, more than anywhere else, things never turn out the way we expect them to. 1 |
| • | The side that feels the lesser urge for peace will naturally get the better bargain. |
| • | A strong character is one that will not be unbalanced by the most powerful emotions. |
| • | Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank. |
| • | Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity. |
| • | 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. |
| • | A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled. |
| • | Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference. |
| • | In war we primarily strike at the enemy’s center of gravity. |
| • | 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. |
| • | Every suspension of offensive action, either from erroneous views, from fear or from indolence, is in favor of the side acting defensively. |
| • | If defense is the stronger form of war, yet has a negative object, it follows that it should be used only so long as weakness compels, and be abandoned as soon as we are strong enough to pursue a positive object. |
| • | Everything in war is very simple, but even the simplest is very difficult. |
| • | If we want to secure peace, let us prepare for war. |
