War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

Every combat is the bloody and destructive measuring of the strength of forces, physical and moral; whoever at the close has the greatest amount of both left is the conqueror.

In war, where imperfect intelligence, the threat of a catastrophe, and the number of accidents are incomparably greater than any other human endeavor, the amount of missed opportunities, so to speak, is therefore bound to be greater.

In war the will is directed at an animate object that reacts.

War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.