With uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the… — 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.

...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.