There are very few men-and they are the exceptions-who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment

No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy

War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds.

It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less by critical studies and learned monographs than by insights, broad impressions, and flashes of intuition.

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.

Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.

Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.