If we consider the actual basis of this information [i.e., intelligence], how unreliable and transient it is, we soon realize that war is a flimsy structure that can easily collapse and bury us in its ruins. ... Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain. This is true of all intelligence but even more so in the heat of battle, where such reports tend to contradict and cancel each other out. In short, most intelligence is false, and the effect of fear is to multiply lies and inaccuracies.

War is...a trinity of violence, chance, and reason.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.

There are very few men-and they are the exceptions-who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment

Self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment.

No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy

Knowing is different from doing and therefore theory must never be used as norms for a standard, but merely as aids to judgment.