Carl von Clausewitz - On War

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Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: war is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst.

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

Carl von Clausewitz
... in the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.

Carl von Clausewitz
... 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
A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.

Carl von Clausewitz
A prince or general can best demonstrate his genius by managing a campaign exactly to suit his objectives and his resources, doing neither too much nor too little.

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

Carl von Clausewitz
War Is Merely the Continuation of Policy by Other Means
We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.

Carl von Clausewitz
The worst of all conditions in which a belligerent can find himself is to be utterly defenseless.

Carl von Clausewitz
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
To introduce into the philosophy of War itself a principle of moderation would be an absurdity.

Carl von Clausewitz
The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.

Carl von Clausewitz
Knowledge must be so absorbed into the mind that it ceases to exist in a separate, objective way. [...] in 1797 the secret of the effectiveness of resisting to the last had not yet been discovered.

Carl von Clausewitz
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
... only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.

Carl von Clausewitz
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
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.

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

Carl von Clausewitz
... soldierly simplicity of character that has always represented the military at its best. In the higher ranks it is different. The higher a man is placed, the broader his point of view. Different interests and a wide variety of passions, good and bad, will arise on all sides. Envy and generosity, pride and humility, wrath and compassion - all may appear as effective forces in this great drama.

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

Carl von Clausewitz
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
Boldness will be at a disadvantage only in an encounter with deliberate caution, which may be considered bold in its own right, and is certainly just as powerful and effective; but such cases are rare.

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

Carl von Clausewitz
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