Top 164 Quotes & Sayings by Carl von Clausewitz

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with 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.

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

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

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

War is the province of danger.

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

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.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.

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

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.

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.

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.

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

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.

The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.

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

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

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

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

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

A conqueror is always a lover of peace.

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.

The general unreliability of all information presents a special problem in war: all action takes place, so to speak, in the twilight, which, like fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are. Whatever is hidden from full view in this feeble light has to be guessed at by talent, or simply left to chance. So once again for the lack of objective knowledge, one has to trust to talent or to luck.

The object of defense is preservation; and since it is easier to hold ground than to take it, defense is easier than attack. But defense has a passive purpose: preservation; and attack a positive one: conquest.... 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.

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

The best strategy is always to be very strong.

Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge.

No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy

After we have thought out everything carefully in advance and have sought and found without prejudice the most plausible plan, we must not be ready to abandon it at the slightest provocation. should this certainty be lacking, we must tell ourselves that nothing is accomplished in warfare without daring; that the nature of war certainly does not let us see at all times where we are going; that what is probable will always be probable though at the moment it may not seem so; and finally, that we cannot be readily ruined by a single error, if we have made reasonable preparations.

Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.

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

Knowledge must become capability.

Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity

The best form of defense is attack.

In short, absolute, so-called mathematical, factors never find a firm basis in military calculations. From the very start, there is an interplay of possibilities, probabilities, good luck and bad, that weaves its way throughout the length and breadth of the tapestry. In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.

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

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.

To achieve victory we must mass our forces at the hub of all power & movement. The enemy's 'Center of Gravity'

Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war

Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.

Self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment.

The first and most important rule to observe...is to use our entire forces with the utmost energy. The second rule is to concentrate our power as much as possible against that section where the chief blows are to be delivered and to incur disadvantages elsewhere, so that our chances of success may increase at the decisive point. The third rule is never to waste time. Finally, the fourth rule is to follow up our successes with the utmost energy. Only pursuit of the beaten enemy gives the fruits of victory.

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

What do we mean by the defeat of the enemy? Simply the destruction of his forces, whether by death, injury, or any other means-either completely or enough to make him stop fighting. . . . The complete or partial destruction of the enemy must be regarded as the sole object of all engagements. . . . Direct annihilation of the enemy's forces must always be the dominant consideration.

Knowing is different from doing and therefore theory must never be used as norms for a standard, but merely as aids to judgment.

War is politics by other means.

To discover how much of our resources must be mobilized for war, we must first examine our political aim and that of the enemy. We must gauge the strength and situation of the opposite state. We must gauge the character and abilities of its government and people and do the same in regard to our own. Finally, we must evaluate the political sympathies of other states and the effect the war may have on them.

Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds; it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst.

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.

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.

Where absolute superiority is not attainable, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skillful use ofwhat you have.

Talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.

In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war.

If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve.

The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.

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

There is only one decisive victory: the last.