[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.

The military weapon is but one of the means that serve the purposes of war: one out of the assortment which grand strategy can employ.

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

In the case of a state that is seeking not conquest but the maintenance of its security, the aim is fulfilled if the threat is removed - if the enemy is led to abandon his purpose.

War is always a matter of doing evil in the hope that good may come of it.

Loss of hope rather than loss of life is what decides the issues of war. But helplessness induces hopelessness.

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.