Quotes by Karl von Clausewitz

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

“Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war.”

“Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of savagery and civilization, but in their attendant circumstances, institutions, and so forth. The difference, therefore, does not operate in every sense, but it does in most of them. Even the most civilized peoples, in short, can be fired with passionate hatred for each other.”

“What this task requires in the way of higher intellectual gifts is a sense of unity and a power of judgement, raised to a marvelous pitch of vision, which easily grasps and dismisses a thousand remote possibilities an ordinary mind would labor to identify, and wear itself out in doing so.”

“The difficulty of accurate recognition constitutes one of the most serious sources of friction in war... War has a way of masking the stage with scenery crudely daubed with fearsome apparitions.”

“Lastly, the great uncertainty of all data in War is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently - like the effect of a fog or moonshine - gives to things exagg”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.”

“War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means.”

“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.”

“Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.”

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

“It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.”

“Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.”

“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 the truth; and second, the courage to follow this light wherever it may lead.”

“Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.”

“To secure peace is to prepare for war.”

“The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy”