War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.

War is the province of chance. In no sphere of human activity is such a margin to be left for this intruder. It increases the uncertainty of every circumstance, and deranges the course of events.

Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.

The Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.

Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.

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

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.