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.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

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.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

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.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

Politics is the womb in which war develops.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

To secure peace is to prepare for war.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

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.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

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.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

War is nothing but a continuation of politics by other means.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.
- Karl Von Clausewitz Quote