Timidity is the root of prudence in the majority of men.

There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.

Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper.

However much pains may be taken to combine the soldier and the citizen in one and the same individual, whatever may be done to nationalize wars, never will it be possible to do away with the professionalism of the business; and if that cannot be done, then those who belong to it will always look upon themselves as a kind of guild, in the regulations, laws, and customs in which the "Spirit of War" finds its expression. It would be very wrong to look down upon this corporate spirit, or esprit de corps, which may and should exist more or less in every Army.

Talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.

In war more than anywhere else, things do not turn out as we expect.