Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank.

Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity

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.

Boldness will be at a disadvantage only in an encounter with deliberate caution, which may be considered bold in its own right, and is certainly just as powerful and effective; but such cases are rare.

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.

Timidity is the root of prudence in the majority of men.

Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.