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      "text": "Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.",
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      "text": "Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that mistakes that come from kindness are the very worst.",
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      "id": "01c72d7a-8eb0-4ed6-a910-0219f9eeebb4",
      "slug": "if-a-segment",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war/if-a-segment",
      "text": "If a segment of one's force is located where it is not sufficiently busy with the enemy, or if the troops are on the march - that is, idle - while the enemy is fighting, then these forces are being managed uneconomically. In this sense they are being wasted, which is even worse than using them inappropriately.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "war",
          "slug": "war",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war"
        },
        {
          "name": "strategy",
          "slug": "strategy",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/strategy"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#Book_3",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:37"
    }
  ]
}