War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

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.

There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war.

Whenever armed forces . . . are used, the idea of combat must be present. . . . The end for which a soldier is recruited, clothed, armed, and trained, the whole object of his sleeping, eating, drinking, and marching is simply that he should fight at the right place and the right time.

The difficulty of accurate recognition constitutes one of the most serious sources of friction in war, by making things appear entirely different from what one had expected.

We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.