Carl von Clausewitz Quotes
Quotations and aphorisms by Carl von Clausewitz:
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
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It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is the continuation of politics by other means.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Politics is the womb in which war develops.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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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
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The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is the province of danger.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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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
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War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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To secure peace is to prepare for war.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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A conqueror is always a lover of peace.
~Carl von Clausewitz
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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
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