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Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.

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
Destroy
Defense
Blind
Would
Aggressiveness
Attack

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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.
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Just as some plants bear fruit only if they don't shoot up too high, so in practical arts the leaves and flowers of theory must be pruned and the plant kept close to its proper soil- experience.
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The heart of France lies between Brussels and Paris.
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In War, the young soldier is very apt to regard unusual fatigues as the consquence of faults, mistakes, and embarrassment in the conduct of the whole, and to become distressed and depondent as a consequence. This would not happen if he had been prepared for this beforehand by exercises in peace.
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In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.
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Rather than comparing [war] to art we could more accurately compare it to commerce, which is also a conflict of human interests and activities and it is still closer to politics, which in turn may be considered as a kind of commerce on a larger scale.
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Tactics is the art of using troops in battle strategy is the art of using battles to win the war
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Knowing is different from doing and therefore theory must never be used as norms for a standard, but merely as aids to judgment.
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Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.
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Only great and general battles can produce great results
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War is an act of force, and to the application of that force there is no limit. Each of the adversaries forces the hand of the other, and a reciprocal action results which in theory can have no limit.
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A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.
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Responsibility and danger do not tend to free or stimulate the average person's mind- rather the contrary but wherever they do liberate an individual's judgement and confidence we can be sure that we are in the presence of exceptional ability.
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The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.
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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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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.
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Knowledge must become capability.
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Only the element of chance is needed to make war a gamble, and that element is never absent.
Carl von Clausewitz
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Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank.
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A general who allows himself to be decisively defeated in an extended mountain position deserves to be court-martialled.
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