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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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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
Elements
Needed
Chance
War
Make
Never
Gamble
Absent
Element

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Desperate affairs require desperate remedies.
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War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
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War is nothing but a duel on a larger scale.
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The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.
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Everything in strategy is very simple, but that does not mean everything is very easy.
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Blood is the price of victory
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Battles decide everything.
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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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Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.
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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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It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
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A conqueror is always a lover of peace.
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Politics is the womb in which war develops.
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Obstinacy is a fault of temperament. Stubbornness and intolerance of contradiction result from a special kind of egotism, which elevates above everything else the pleasure of its autonomous intellect, to which others must bow.
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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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The heart of France lies between Brussels and Paris.
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The best strategy is always to be very strong.
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Four elements make up the climate of war: danger, exertion, uncertainty and chance.
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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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