In war, the chief incalculable is the human will.

It is only to clear from history that states rarely keep faith with each other, save in so far (and so long) as their promises seem to them to combine with their interests.

With growing experience, all skillful commanders sought to profit by the power of the defensive, even when on the offensive.

If you want peace, understand war.

The effect to be sought is the dislocation of the opponent's mind and dispositions - such an effect is the true gauge of an indirect approach.

No man can exactly calculate the capacity of human genius and stupidity, nor the incapacity of will.

[The] aim is not so much to seek battle as to seek a strategic situation so advantageous that if it does not of itself produce the decision, its continuation by a battle is sure to achieve this. In other words, dislocation is the aim of strategy.