Carl von Clausewitz

War is nothing but a duel on a larger scale.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Blood is the price of victory

— Carl von Clausewitz

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

— Carl von Clausewitz

War is...a trinity of violence, chance, and reason.

— Carl von Clausewitz

There is only one decisive victory: the last.

— Carl von Clausewitz

War is merely a continuation of politics,

— Carl von Clausewitz

Battles decide everything.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Knowledge must become capability.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.

— Carl von Clausewitz

War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost limits.

— Carl von Clausewitz

Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.

— Carl von Clausewitz

To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it.

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation…

— Carl von Clausewitz

The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war.

— Carl von Clausewitz

The only situation a commander can know fully is his own: his opponent's he can know only from unreliable intelligence.

— Carl von Clausewitz

“The aggressor is always peace-loving (as Bonaparte always claimed to be); he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.”

— Carl von Clausewitz

In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend…

— Carl von Clausewitz

“casualty reports on either side are never accurate, seldom truthful, and in most cases deliberately falsified.”

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

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

— Carl von Clausewitz

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination. The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the…

— Carl von Clausewitz

“Pity the theory which sets itself in opposition to the mind! It cannot repair this contradiction by any humility, and the humbler…

— Carl Von Clausewitz

Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of…

— Carl von Clausewitz

Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything…

— Carl von Clausewitz

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by…

— Carl von Clausewitz

As each man's strength gives out, as it no longer responds to his will, the inertia of the whole gradually comes to…

— Carl von Clausewitz

The majority of people are timid by nature, and that is why they constantly exaggerate danger. all influences on the military leader,…

— Carl von Clausewitz

War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog…

— Carl von Clausewitz

“Thus it has come about that our theoretical and critical literature, instead of giving plain, straightforward arguments in which the author at…

— Carl von Clausewitz

“We propose to consider first the single elements of our subject, then each branch of part, and, last of all, the whole…

— Carl Von Clausewitz

It is paltry philosophy if in the old-fashioned way one lays down rules and principles in total disregard of moral values .…

— Carl von Clausewitz

“Essentally combat is an expression of hostile feelings. But in the large-scale combat that we call war hostile feelings often have become…

— Carl von Clausewitz

If we consider the actual basis of this information [i.e., intelligence], how unreliable and transient it is, we soon realize that war…

— Carl von Clausewitz

We must evaluate the political sympathies of other states and the effect war may have on them. To assess these things in…

— Carl von Clausewitz

A general in time of war is constantly bombarded by reports both true and false; by errors arising from fear or negligence…

— Carl von Clausewitz

But the main point is that soldiers, after fighting for some time, are apt to be like burned-out cinders. They have shot…

— Carl von Clausewitz