Quote

The truth is, no study is possible on the battle-field one does there simply what one can in order to apply what one knows . Therefore, in order to do even a little, one has already to know a great deal and to know it well.

Ferdinand Foch

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Ferdinand Foch
Age: 77 †
Born: 1851
Born: October 2
Died: 1929
Died: March 20
Generalissimo
Military Officer
Military Personnel
Ferdinand Jean Marie Foch
Doe
Deal
Littles
Deals
Little
Already
Wells
Simply
Apply
Well
Study
Field
Great
Possible
Fields
Even
Order
Battle
Truth
Therefore

More quotes by Ferdinand Foch

Image
The unknown is the governing principle of war.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
One is defeated only when one accepts defeat.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
No study is possible on the battlefield.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
The laurels of victory are at the point of the enemy bayonets. They must be plucked there they must be carried by a hand-to-hand fight if one really means to conquer.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
The fundamental qualities for good execution of a plan is first intelligence then discernment and judgment, which enable one to recognize the best method as to attain it the singleness of purpose and, lastly, . . . stubborn will.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
Every manoeuvre must be the development of a scheme it must aim at a goal.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
This absence of similarity among military questions naturally brings out the inability of memory to solve them also the sterility of invariable forms, such as figures, geometrical drawings ( épures ), plans ( schémas ), etc. One only right solution imposes itself:: namely, the application, varying according to circumstances, of fixed principles.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
The military mind always imagines that the next war will be on the same lines as the last. That has never been the case and never will be. One of the great factors on the next war will be aircraft obviously. The potentialities of aircraft attack on a large scale are almost incalculable.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
Far from being a sum of distinct and partial results, victory is the consequence of efforts, some of which are victorious while others appear to be fruitless, which nevertheless all aim at a common goal, all drive at a common result: namely, at a decision, a conclusion which alone can provide victory.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
A beaten general is disgraced forever.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
One does simply what one can in order to apply what one knows .
Ferdinand Foch
Image
Don't drown yourself in details. Look at the whole.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat situation excellent. I shall attack.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
Victory is a thing of the will.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
I am conscious of having served England as I served my own country.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
The distribution of troops devoted to the defence of a place includes a garrison, an occupying force, numerically as weak as possible a reserve as strong as possible, designed for counterattacking and for providing itself, at the moment it goes into action, with a security service which will guard it from any possible surprise.
Ferdinand Foch
Image
All the same, the fundamental truths which govern that art are still unchangeable just as the principles of mechanics must always govern architecture, whether the building be made of wood, stone, iron or concrete just as the principles of harmony govern music of whatever kind. It is still necessary, then, to establish the principles of war.
Ferdinand Foch