Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.

War should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an instrument of policy.

The general unreliability of all information presents a special problem in war: all action takes place, so to speak, in the twilight, which, like fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are. Whatever is hidden from full view in this feeble light has to be guessed at by talent, or simply left to chance. So once again for the lack of objective knowledge, one has to trust to talent or to luck.

Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one's balance in spite of them.

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.

War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance, and deranges the course of events.