...talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice. — Carl von Clausewitz

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.

War therefore is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfil our will.

War is merely the continuation of policy by other means.

We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.