All B. H. Liddell Hart Quotes
- ...regrettable as it may seem to the idealist, the experience of history provides little warrant for the belief that real progress, and the freedom that… Able
- The hydrogen bomb is not the answer to the Western peoples' dream of full and final insurance of their security ... While it has increased… Answer
- The implied threat of using nuclear weapons to curb guerrillas was as absurd as to talk of using a sledge hammer to ward off a… Absurd
- The easiest and quickest path into the esteem of traditional military authorities is by the appeal to the eye, rather than to the mind. The… Appeal
- Air Power is, above all, a psychological weapon - and only short-sighted soldiers, too battle-minded, underrate the importance of psychological factors in war. Air
- A modern state is such a complex and interdependent fabric that it offers a target highly sensitive to a sudden and overwhelming blow from the… Air
- The practical value of history is to throw the film of the past through the material projector of the present on to the screen of… Film
- The principle of compulsory service, embodied in the system of conscription, lias been the means by which modem dictators and military gangs have shackled their… Aggressive
- The only thing harder than getting a new idea into the military mind is to get an old one out. Harder
- Direct experience is inherently too limited to form an adequate foundation either for theory or for application. At the best it produces an atmosphere that… Adequate
- In war, the chief incalculable is the human will. Chief
- The most effective indirect approach is one that lures or startles the opponent into a false move - so that, as in ju-jitsu, his own… Approach
- As has happened so often in history, victory had bred a complacency and fostered an orthodoxy which led to defeat in the next war. Bred
- A complacent satisfaction with present knowledge is the chief bar to the pursuit of knowledge. Bar
- Ensure that both plan and dispositions are flexible, adaptable to circumstances. Your plan should foresee and provide for a next step in case of success… Adaptable
- If you want peace, understand war. Inspirational
- The most consistently successful commanders, when faced by an enemy in a position that was strong naturally or materially, have hardly ever tackled it in… Attack
- This high proportion of history's decisive campaigns, the significance of which is enhanced by the comparative rarity of the direct approach, enforces the conclusion that… Approach
- Natural hazards, however formidable, are inherently less dangerous and less uncertain than fighting hazards. All conditions are more calculable, all obstacles more surmountable than those… All
- The effect to be sought is the dislocation of the opponent's mind and dispositions - such an effect is the true gauge of an indirect… Approach
- In a campaign against more than one state or army, it is more fruitful to concentrate first against the weaker partner than to attempt the… Army
- The military weapon is but one of the means that serve the purposes of war: one out of the assortment which grand strategy can employ. Assortment
- While there are many causes for which a state goes to war, its fundamental object can be epitomized as that of ensuring the continuance of… Causes
- For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought. Deformity
- For even the best of peace training is more theoretical than practical experience ... indirect practical experience may be the more valuable because infinitely wider. Best