Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge.

Rather than comparing [war] to art we could more accurately compare it to commerce, which is also a conflict of human interests and activities; and it is still closer to politics, which in turn may be considered as a kind of commerce on a larger scale.

Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.

Boldness governed by superior intellect is the mark of a hero.

Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow.

[The cause of inaction in war] ... is the imperfection of human perception and judgment which is more pronounced in war than anywhere else. We hardly know accurately our own situation at any particular moment while the enemy's, which is concealed from us, must be deduced from very little evidence.

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.