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

War is nothing but a duel on a larger scale.

The more a leader is in the habit of demanding from his men, the surer he will be that his demands will be answered.

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

War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds.

In 1793 such a force as no one had any conception of made its appearance. War had again suddenly become an affair of the people, and that of a people numbering thirty millions, every one of whom regarded himself as a citizen of the State... By this participation of the people in the war... a whole Nation with its natural weight came into the scale.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.