The practical value of history is to throw the film of the past through the material projector of the present on to the screen of the future.

Direct pressure always tends to harden and consolidate the resistance of an opponent.

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

The more closely [the German army] converged on [Stalingrad], the narrower became their scope for tactical manoeuvre as a lever in loosening resistance. By contrast, the narrowing of the frontage made it easier for the defender to switch his local reserves to any threatened point on the defensive arc.

For even the best of peace training is more theoretical than practical experience ... indirect practical experience may be the more valuable because infinitely wider.

The higher level of grand strategy [is] that of conducting war with a far-sighted regard to the state of the peace that will follow.

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.