Only great and general battles can produce great results

The object of defense is preservation; and since it is easier to hold ground than to take it, defense is easier than attack. But defense has a passive purpose: preservation; and attack a positive one: conquest.... If defense is the stronger form of war, yet has a negative object, it follows that it should be used only so long as weakness compels, and be abandoned as soon as we are strong enough to pursue a positive object.

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

We must evaluate the political sympathies of other states and the effect war may have on them. To assess these things in all their ramifications and diversity is plainly a colossal task. Rapid and correct appraisal of them clearly calls for the intuition of a genius; to master all this complex mass by sheer methodical examination is obviously impossible. Bonaparte was quite right when he said that Newton himself would quail before the algebraic problems it could pose.

Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.

In war the will is directed at an animate object that reacts.

Blood is the price of victory