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 More Quotes by Carl von Clausewitz More Quotes From Carl von Clausewitz 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 elements definitions war There is only one decisive victory: the last. Carl von Clausewitz victory lasts military The very nature of interactions is bound to make it unpredictable. Carl von Clausewitz interaction bounds unpredictable 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. Carl von Clausewitz simple together war Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow. Carl von Clausewitz bows faults special This tremendous friction which cannot, as in mechanics, be reduced to a few points, is everywhere in contact with chance, and brings about effects that cannot be measured just because they are largely due to chance. Carl von Clausewitz mechanic friction chance As each man's strength gives out, as it no longer responds to his will, the inertia of the whole gradually comes to rest on the commander's will alone. The ardor of his spirit must rekindle the flame of purpose in all others; his inward fire must revive their hope. Carl von Clausewitz flames fire men The deduction of effect from cause is often blocked by some insuperable extrinsic obstacle: the true causes may be quite unknown. Nowhere in life is this so common as in war, where the facts are seldom fully known and the underlying motives even less so. Carl von Clausewitz causes may war Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat. Carl von Clausewitz real men 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 different military war Of all the passions that inspire a man in a battle, none, we have to admit, is so powerful and so constant as the longing for honor and reknown. Carl von Clausewitz passion powerful men War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. ... war is the realm of chance. No other human activity gives it greater scope; no other has such incessant and varied dealings with this intruder. Chance makes everything more uncertain and interferes with the whole course of events. Carl von Clausewitz fog giving war Where execution is dominant, as it is in the individual events of a war whether great or small, then intellectual factors are reduced to a minimum. Carl von Clausewitz events intellectual war Desperate affairs require desperate remedies. Carl von Clausewitz desperate affair war The heart of France lies between Brussels and Paris. Carl von Clausewitz heart war lying All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it. Carl von Clausewitz weakness humans war War is only caused through the political intercourse of governments and nations - war is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse with an admixture of other means. Carl von Clausewitz government war mean War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means. Carl von Clausewitz politics war mean The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing practical to alter or deflect the impulse to destroy the enemy, which is central to the very idea of war. Carl von Clausewitz war civilization ideas Politics is the womb in which war develops - where its outlines already exist in their hidden rudimentary form, like the characteristics of living creatures in their embryos. Carl von Clausewitz characteristics form war
