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Carl von Clausewitz Quotes | Quotes said by Carl von Clausewitz

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #1

    A conqueror is always a lover of peace.


  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #2

    Aber alle diese Opfer, welche der Verteidiger bringt, verursachen ihm meistens einen Ausfall an Kräften, die nur mittelbar, also später und nicht unmittelbar auf seine Streitkräfte wirkt, und oft so mittelbar, daß die Wirkung wenig fühlbar wird. Der Verteidiger sucht also sich auf Kosten der Zukunft im gegenwärtigen Augenblick zu verstärken, d.h. er borgt, wie jeder tun muß, der für seine Verhältnisse zu arm ist.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #3

    Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #4

    Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #5

    Die beste Strategie ist: immer recht stark sein, ... . Daher gibt es ... kein höheres und einfacheres Gesetz für die Strategie als das: seine Kräfte zusammenhalten.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #6

    Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #7

    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.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #8

    If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #9

    If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, 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.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #10

    Je größerer Art die Maßnahmen werden, um so weniger kann man damit überraschen.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #11

    Je kleiner das Opfer ist, welches wir von unserem Gegner fordern, um so geringer dürfen wir erwarten, daß seine Anstrengungen sein warden, es uns zu versagen. Je geringer aber diese sind, um so kleiner dürfen auch die unsrigen bleiben.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #12

    Jede Veränderung dieser Lage, welche durch die fortgesetzte kriegerische Tätigkeit hervorgebracht wird, muß also zu einer noch nachteiligeren führen, wenigstens in der Vorstellung. Die schlimmste Lage, in die ein Kriegführender kommen kann, ist die gänzliche Wehrlosigkeit. Soll also der Gegner zur Erfüllung unseres Willens durch den kriegerischen Akt gezwungen werden, so müssen wir ihn entweder faktisch wehrlos machen oder in einen Zustand versetzen, daß er nach Wahrscheinlichkeit damit bedroht sei.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #13

    Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #14

    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.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #15

    Politics is the womb in which war develops.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #16

    Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #17

    The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish by that test the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to turn it into, something that is alien to its nature.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #18

    The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #19

    To secure peace is to prepare for war.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #20

    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.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #21

    War is merely the continuation of politics by other means

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #22

    War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #23

    War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #24

    War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #25

    War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #26

    War is the continuation of politics by other means.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #27

    War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #28

    We maintain, on the contrary, that war is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means. We deliberately use the phrase “with the addition of other means” because we also want to make it clear that war in itself does not suspend political intercourse or change it into something entirely different. In essentials that intercourse continues, irrespective of the means it employs.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #29

    We propose to consider first the single elements of our subject, then each branch of part, and, last of all, the whole in all its relations-therefore to advance from the simple to the complex. But it is necessary for us to commence with a glance at the nature of the whole, because it is particularly necessary that in the consideration of any of the parts their relation to the whole be kept constantly in view.

    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. If we would conceive as a unit the countless number of duels which make up a War, we shall do so best by supposing to ourselves two wrestlers. Each strives by physical force to compel the other to submit to his will: each endeavors to throw his adversary, and thus render him incapable of further resistance.

    War therefore is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.

  • Carl von Clausewitz Quote #30

    Wenn der Gegner unseren Willen erfüllen soll, so müssen wir ihn in eine Lage versetzen, die nachteiliger ist, als das Opfer, welches wir von ihm fordern; die Nachteile dieser Lage dürfen aber natürlich, wenigstens dem Anscheine nach, nicht vorübergehend sein, sonst würde der Gegner den besseren Zeitpunkt abwarten und nicht nachgeben.

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