209 Quotes by Carl von Clausewitz

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.

The best strategy is always to be very strong.

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.

War is an act of force, and to the application of that force there is no limit. Each of the adversaries forces the hand of the other, and a reciprocal action results which in theory can have no limit....

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.

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.

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.

The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish ... the kind of war on which they are embarking.