Carl von Clausewitz
Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfriedvon Clausewitz was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral"and political aspects of war. His most notable work, Vom Kriege, was unfinished at his death. Clausewitz was a realist in many different senses and, while in some respects a romantic, also drew heavily on the rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionSoldier
Date of Birth1 June 1780
CountryGermany
men mind aliens
Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.
war military mind
If we read history with an open mind, we cannot fail to conclude that, among all the military virtues, the energetic conduct of war has always contributed most to glory and success.
passion mind savages
Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind.
determination expression mind
Our knowledge of circumstances has increased, but our uncertainty, instead of having diminished, has only increased. The reason of this is, that we do not gain all our experience at once, but by degrees; so our determinations continue to be assailed incessantly by fresh experience; and the mind, if we may use the expression, must always be under arms.
ideas long mind
Architects and painters know precisely what they are about as long as they deal with material phenomena.... But when they come to the aesthetics of their work, when they aim at a particular effect on the mind or on the senses, the rules dissolve into nothing but vague ideas.
war mind firsts
No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.
politics war
War is the continuation of politics by other means.
art powerful war
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.
defense blind aggressiveness
Blind aggressiveness would destroy the attack itself, not the defense.
war military good-luck
In short, absolute, so-called mathematical, factors never find a firm basis in military calculations. From the very start, there is an interplay of possibilities, probabilities, good luck and bad, that weaves its way throughout the length and breadth of the tapestry. In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.
judging criticism
Criticism exists only to recognize the truth, not to act as judge.
war military son
The bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first-born son of war.
battle
Battles decide everything.
military blood victory
Blood is the price of victory