The only situation a commander can know fully is his own: his opponent's he can know only from unreliable intelligence.

Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.

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.

Every age has its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions and its own peculiar preconceptions.

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination. The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war. Only great and general battles can produce great results. Blood is the price of victory.

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 reknown.

A conqueror is always a lover of peace.