Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war. ... Countless minor incidents - the kind you can never really foresee - combine to lower the general level of performance, so that one always falls short of the intended goal.

Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.

By 'intelligence' we mean every sort of information about the enemy and his country - the basis, in short, of our own plans and operations.

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.

Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.

The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.