Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.

In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war.

War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

In war, where imperfect intelligence, the threat of a catastrophe, and the number of accidents are incomparably greater than any other human endeavor, the amount of missed opportunities, so to speak, is therefore bound to be greater.

Architects and painters know precisely what they are about as long as they deal with material phenomena.... But when they come to the aesthetics of their work, when they aim at a particular effect on the mind or on the senses, the rules dissolve into nothing but vague ideas.

Whoever does great things with small means has successfully reached the goal.

War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.