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

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

Where absolute superiority is not attainable, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skillful use ofwhat you have.

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.

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

What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become evident in the final success.

All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.