In war everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
[...] to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is an act of force, and to the application of that force there is no limit. Each of the adversaries forces… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is only caused through the political intercourse of governments and nations - war is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
“peace is maintained by the equilibrium of forces, and will continue just as long as this equilibrium exists, and no longer.” — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action is based are wrapped in a fog of… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
In war, where imperfect intelligence, the threat of a catastrophe, and the number of accidents are incomparably greater than any other human… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder.… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
“The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish by… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
In short, absolute, so-called mathematical, factors never find a firm basis in military calculations. From the very start, there is an interplay… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
What do we mean by the defeat of the enemy? Simply the destruction of his forces, whether by death, injury, or any… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
Where execution is dominant, as it is in the individual events of a war whether great or small, then intellectual factors are… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
The difficulty of accurate recognition constitutes one of the most serious sources of friction in war, by making things appear entirely different… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish ...… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
In War more than anywhere else in the world things happen differently to what we had expected, and look differently when near,… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of war used by publicists. We shall keep to the element of… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
Rather than comparing [war] to art we could more accurately compare it to commerce, which is also a conflict of human interests and activities;… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
After we have thought out everything carefully in advance and have sought and found without prejudice the most plausible plan, we must not be… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
Intelligence alone is not courage, we often see that the most intelligent people are irresolute. Since in the rush of events a man is… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
The great uncertainty of all data in war is because all action, to a certain extent, planned in a mere twilight - like the… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
Self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
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… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means. — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by… — Carl von Clausewitz Copy Share
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