If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve.

With 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.

Rather than comparing [war] to art we could more accurately compare it to commerce, which is also a conflict of human interests and activities; and it is still closer to politics, which in turn may be considered as a kind of commerce on a larger scale.

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

By 'intelligence' we mean every sort of information about the enemy and his country - the basis, in short, of our own plans and operations.

War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.

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