Whenever armed forces . . . are used, the idea of combat must be present. . . . The end for which a soldier is recruited, clothed, armed, and trained, the whole object of his sleeping, eating, drinking, and marching is simply that he should fight at the right place and the right time.
Carl von ClausewitzMen are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.
Carl von ClausewitzWith uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the balance. The greater they are, the greater the margin that can be left for accidents.
Carl von ClausewitzWe repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining oneโs balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a shipโs compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.
Carl von Clausewitz