In short, absolute, so-called mathematical, factors never find a firm basis in military calculations. From the very start, there is an interplay of possibilities, probabilities, good luck and bad, that weaves its way throughout the length and breadth of the tapestry. In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.

Action in war is like movement in a resistant element. Just as the simplest and most natural of movements, walking, cannot easily be performed in water, so in war, it is difficult for normal efforts to achieve even moderate results.

Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.

Friction is the only concept that more or less corresponds to the factors that distinguish real war from war on paper.

Strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one's balance in spite of them.

Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.

In 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.