Quote

Close combat, man to man, is plainly to be regarded as the real basis of combat.

Carl von Clausewitz

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Carl von Clausewitz
Age: 51 †
Born: 1780
Born: June 1
Died: 1831
Died: November 16
Historian
Military Historian
Military Officer
Military Personnel
Military Theorist
Philosopher
Writer
Burg bei Magdeburg
Men
Plainly
Regarded
Combat
Basis
Bases
Close
War
Real

More quotes by Carl von Clausewitz

Image
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
Image
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
Image
Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
The difficulty of accurate recognition constitutes one of the most serious sources of friction in war, by making things appear entirely different from what one had expected.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Beauty cannot be defined by abscissas and ordinates neither are circles and ellipses created by their geometrical formulas.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
In war everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Tactics is the art of using troops in battle strategy is the art of using battles to win the war
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
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
Image
War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Intelligence alone is not courage, we often see that the most intelligent people are irresolute. Since in the rush of events a man is governed by feelings rather than by thought, the intellect needs to arouse the quality of courage, which then supports and sustains it in action.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Every combat is the bloody and destructive measuring of the strength of forces, physical and moral whoever at the close has the greatest amount of both left is the conqueror.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Men are always more inclined to pitch their estimate of the enemy's strength too high than too low, such is human nature.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become evident in the final success.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Knowledge must become capability.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
Everything in strategy is very simple, but that does not mean everything is very easy.
Carl von Clausewitz
Image
The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.
Carl von Clausewitz