Quotes
Every suspension of offensive action, either from erroneous views, from fear or from indolence, is in favor of the side acting defensively.
Where execution is dominant, as it is in the individual events of a war whether great or small, then intellectual factors are reduced to a minimum.
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.
...in war, the advantages and disadvantages of a single action could only be determined by the final balance.
What is the object of defense? To preserve. To preserve is easier than to acquire.
The more physical the activity, the less the difficulties will be. The more the activity becomes intellectual and turns into motives which exercise a determining influence on the commander's will, the more the difficulties will increase.
Of all the passions that inspire a man in a battle, none, we have to admit, is so powerful and so constant as the longing for honor and renown.
Our discussion has shown that while in war many different roads can lead to the goal, to the attainment of the political object, fighting is the only possible means.
Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.
All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.
Knowledge in war is very simple, being concerned with so few subjects, and only with their final results at that. But this does not make its application easy.
... in the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.
