If a segment of one's force is located where it is not sufficiently busy with the enemy, or if the troops are… — Carl von Clausewitz
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.
Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
More from this book
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.
...only a fraction of book learning will seep into practical life anyhow; and the more foolish the theory, the less of it.
Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.


