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

The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.

A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.

War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others.

Lastly, the great uncertainty of all data in War is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not unfrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and an unnatural appearance.

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

Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow.