The object of defense is preservation; and since it is easier to hold ground than to take it, defense is easier than attack. But defense has a passive purpose: preservation; and attack a positive one: conquest.... If defense is the stronger form of war, yet has a negative object, it follows that it should be used only so long as weakness compels, and be abandoned as soon as we are strong enough to pursue a positive object.

The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war.

Intelligence alone is not courage, we often see that the most intelligent people are irresolute. Since in the rush of events a man is governed by feelings rather than by thought, the intellect needs to arouse the quality of courage, which then supports and sustains it in action.

Only great and general battles can produce great results

The very nature of interactions is bound to make it unpredictable.

Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.

There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.