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.
Carl von ClausewitzIn 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.
Carl von ClausewitzWe repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining oneโs balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a shipโs compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.
Carl von ClausewitzWar is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
Carl von Clausewitz