Top 7 Quotes & Sayings by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Explore popular quotes and sayings by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.
Last updated on April 20, 2025.
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a Prussian field marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field. He commanded troops in Europe and the Middle East, commanding during the Second Schleswig War, Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. He is described as embodying "Prussian military organization and tactical genius." He was fascinated with railways and pioneered their military usage. He is often referred to as Moltke the Elder to distinguish him from his nephew Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who commanded the German Army at the outbreak of World War I.

October 26, 1800 - April 24, 1891
Eternal peace is a dream - and not even a beautiful one.
No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.
The surest way of achieving your goal is through the single-minded pursuit of simple actions. — © Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
The surest way of achieving your goal is through the single-minded pursuit of simple actions.
In the last analysis, luck comes only to the well prepared.
Strategy is a system of expedients.
Strategy is a system of makeshifts. Is is more than a science. It is bringing knowledge to bear on practical life, the further elaboration of an original guiding idea under constantly changing circumstances. It is the art of acting under the pressure of the most demanding conditions...That is why general principles, rules derived from them, and systems based on these rules cannot possibly have any value for strategy.
The Jews form a state, and, obeying their own laws, they evade those of their host country. the Jews always considered an oath regarding a Christian not binding. During the Campaign of 1812 the Jews were spies, they were paid by both sides, they betrayed both sides. It is seldom that the police investigate a robbery in which a Jew is not found either to be an accomplice or a receiver.
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