Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity
Carl von ClausewitzKnowledge in war is very simple, being concerned with so few subjects, and only with their final results at that. But this does not make its application easy.
Carl von ClausewitzOnly the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.
Carl von ClausewitzAny complex activity, if it is to be carried on with any degree of virtuosity, calls for appropriate gifts of intellect and temperament. If they are outstanding and reveal themselves in exceptional achievements, their possessor is called a 'genius'.
Carl von ClausewitzLastly, the great uncertainty of all data in War is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not unfrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and an unnatural appearance.
Carl von Clausewitz