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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

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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
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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.
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Everything in strategy is very simple, but that does not mean everything is very easy.
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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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A certain grasp of military affairs is vital for those in charge of general policy.
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Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.
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War is an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds.
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War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
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Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank.
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In war, while everything is simple, even the simplest thing is difficult. Difficulties accumulate and produce frictions which no one can comprehend who has not seen war.
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The best strategy is always to be very strong.
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Knowledge must become capability.
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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.
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Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.
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Only great and general battles can produce great results
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Self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment.
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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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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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We repeat again: strength of character does not consist solely in having powerful feelings, but in maintaining one’s balance in spite of them. Even with the violence of emotion, judgment and principle must still function like a ship’s compass, which records the slightest variations however rough the sea.
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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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