Carl von Clausewitz quotes

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Determination #Military #Persistence

No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Mind #Firsts

The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Dream #Perfect #Enemy

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Inspirational #Strength #Courage

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Inspirational #Courage #Light

After we have thought out everything carefully in advance and have sought and found without prejudice the most plausible plan, we must not be ready to abandon it at the slightest provocation. should this certainty be lacking, we must tell ourselves that nothing is accomplished in warfare without daring; that the nature of war certainly does not let us see at all times where we are going; that what is probable will always be probable though at the moment it may not seem so; and finally, that we cannot be readily ruined by a single error, if we have made reasonable preparations.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Errors

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Mean #Independent

To secure peace is to prepare for war.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Preparation

If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Sacrifice #Giving

With uncertainty in one scale, courage and self-confidence should be thrown into the other to correct the balance. The greater they are, the greater the margin that can be left for accidents.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Self Confidence #Balance #Should

The great uncertainty of all data in war is because all action, to a certain extent, planned in a mere twilight - like the effect of a fog - gives things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Twilight #Fog

We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Powerful #Character #Sea

It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Inspirational #Past #Achievement

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

#Clarity #Certainty #Intellect

The best form of defense is attack.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Defense #Form

War is nothing but a duel on a larger scale.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Scales

If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy seek a solution elsewhere.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Strong #Military #Enemy

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Witty #Powerful #Humorous

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Simple #Difficult

Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Real #War #Men

Any 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 Clausewitz

#Achievement #Degrees #Genius

In war everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Art #War #Simple

The world has a way of undermining complex plans. This is particularly true in fast moving environments. A fast moving environment can evolve more quickly than a complex plan can be adapted to it. By the time you have adapted, the target has changed.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Art #War #Moving

War is the province of chance. in no other sphere of human activity must such a margin be left for this intruder. it increases the uncertainty of every circumstance and deranges the course of events.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Events

Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Art #War #Winning

There is only one decisive victory: the last.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Victory #Lasts

The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish ... the kind of war on which they are embarking.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Firsts

A conqueror is always a lover of peace.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Lovers #Conqueror

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

#Perseverance #Execution #Determined

The majority of people are timid by nature, and that is why they constantly exaggerate danger. all influences on the military leader, therefore, combine to give him a false impression of his opponent's strength, and from this arises a new source of indecision.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #People #Giving

Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Hatred #Modern

Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Passion #Mind #Savages

War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost limits.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Peace #War #Limits

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Suffering #Domain

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Courage #Military #War

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Exercise #Matter

Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Determination #Expression #Mind

There are cases in which the greatest daring is the greatest wisdom.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Cases #Daring #Greatest Wisdom

If we read history with an open mind, we cannot fail to conclude that, among all the military virtues, the energetic conduct of war has always contributed most to glory and success.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Mind

There are very few men-and they are the exceptions-who are able to think and feel beyond the present moment
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Men #Thinking #Able

[...] to introduce into the philosophy of war itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Philosophy #War #Principles

The conqueror is always a lover of peace; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Country #Military #Lovers

...as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Men #Giving #Intellectual

All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Weakness #Humans

War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Mean #Politics

Only great and general battles can produce great results
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Battle #Results

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

#Military #War #Son

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Men #Thinking #Principles

Blood is the price of victory
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Blood #Victory

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.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Knowledge #Learning

War should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an instrument of policy.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Veterans Day #War #Should

To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Enemy #Planning #Plans

But the main point is that soldiers, after fighting for some time, are apt to be like burned-out cinders. They have shot off their ammunition, their numbers have been diminished, their strength and their morale are drained, and possibly their courage has vanished as well. As an organic whole, quite apart from their loss in numbers, they are far from being what they were before the action; and thus the amount of reserves spent is an accurate measure on the loss of morale.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Fighting #Loss #Numbers

There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Height #Daring

Politics is the womb in which war develops.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Peace #War #Womb

All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Twilight #Fog #Action

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Leadership #Military #Ambition

Battles decide everything.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Battle

Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Judging #Criticism

It is paltry philosophy if in the old-fashioned way one lays down rules and principles in total disregard of moral values . As soon as these appear one regards them as exceptions, which gives them a certain scientific status, and thus makes them into rules. Or again one may appeal to genius , which is above all rules; which amounts to admitting that rules are not only made for idiots , but are idiotic in themselves.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Philosophy #Giving #Principles

We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of war used by publicists. We shall keep to the element of the thing itself, to a duel. War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Elements #Definitions

Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of savagery and civilization, but in their attendant circumstances, institutions, and so forth. The difference, therefore, does not operate in every sense, but it does in most of them. Even the most civilized peoples, in short, can be fired with passionate hatred for each other.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Lying #Passion #Civilization

Just as some plants bear fruit only if they don't shoot up too high, so in practical arts the leaves and flowers of theory must be pruned and the plant kept close to its proper soil- experience.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Art #Flower #Soil

Responsibility and danger do not tend to free or stimulate the average person's mind- rather the contrary; but wherever they do liberate an individual's judgement and confidence we can be sure that we are in the presence of exceptional ability.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Responsibility #Average #Judgement

Der Krieg ist nichts als eine Fortsetzung des politischen Verkehrs mit Einmischung anderer Mittel. War is merely the continuation of policy with the admixture of other means.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Mean #Mit

There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Campaigns #Lines

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Uncertain

To achieve victory we must mass our forces at the hub of all power & movement. The enemy's 'Center of Gravity'
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Enemy #Victory #Movement

Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Art #Powerful #War

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Mean #Politics

Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Defense #Blind #Aggressiveness

War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Opponents #Violence

Desperate affairs require desperate remedies.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Affair #Desperate

Boldness governed by superior intellect is the mark of a hero.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Hero #Mark #Intellect

It should be noted that the seeds of wisdom that are to bear fruit in the intellect are sown less by critical studies and learned monographs than by insights, broad impressions, and flashes of intuition.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Wisdom #Intuition #Fruit

In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Simple

In war, more than anywhere else in the world, things happen differently from what we had expected, and look differently when near from what they did at a distance.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#War #Distance #Looks

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination. The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war. Only great and general battles can produce great results. Blood is the price of victory.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Determination #Military #War

A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #Affair #Certain

In war the will is directed at an animate object that reacts.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War

War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

#Military #War #Different