In reality, it si more fruitful to wound than to kill. While the dead man lies still, counting only one man less, the wounded man is a progressive drain upon his side.

The downfall of civilized states tends to come not from the direct assaults of foes, but from internal decay combined with the consequences of exhaustion in war.

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 more usual reason for adopting a strategy of limited aim is that of awaiting a change in the balance of force ... The essential condition of such a strategy is that the drain on him should be disproportionately greater than on oneself.

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.

As has happened so often in history, victory had bred a complacency and fostered an orthodoxy which led to defeat in the next war.

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