“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.”
![“Rather than comparing [war] to art we could more accurately compare it to commerce, which is also a conflict of human interests and activities; and it is still closer to politics, which in turn may be considered as a kind of commerce on a larger scale.” quote by Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c35/carl-von-clausewitz-2060_activity_rather-than-comparing-war-to-art-we-coul_21236.jpg)
