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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
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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
Nature
Human
Estimate
Humans
Inclined
Always
Pitch
Men
Lows
Strength
Enemy
High
More quotes by Carl von Clausewitz
Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult.
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War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
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The art of war in its highest point of view is policy.
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A conqueror is always a lover of peace.
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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 form their purposes.
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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.
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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.
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No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy
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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.
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Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.
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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.
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The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.
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Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.
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The best strategy is always to be very strong.
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...as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.
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Politics is the womb in which war develops.
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War is the province of danger.
Carl von Clausewitz
