Carl von Clausewitz Quotes

• The conqueror is always a lover of peace; he would prefer to take over our country unopposed.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• War is merely the continuation of policy with the admixture of other means.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• Only the study of military history is capable of giving those who have no experience of their own a clear picture of what I have just called the friction of the whole machine.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• Battles decide everything.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• 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 the truth; and second, the courage to follow this light wherever it may lead.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• Lastly, the great uncertainty of all data in War is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently – like the effect of a fog or moonshine – gives to things exagg

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• War is the province of danger.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• Everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• The difficulty of accurate recognition constitutes one of the most serious sources of friction in war… War has a way of masking the stage with scenery crudely daubed with fearsome apparitions.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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• 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

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• War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means.

  Carl von Clausewitz

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

  Carl von Clausewitz

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

  Carl von Clausewitz

• A conqueror is always a lover of peace.

  Carl von Clausewitz

• War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of politics by other means.

  Carl von Clausewitz

• The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.

  Carl von Clausewitz

• War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

  Carl von Clausewitz

Carl von Clausewitz (34)

Birth:	1st June, 1780
Death:	16th November, 1831
Nationality:	German
Profession:	Soldier

About

Carl von Clausewitz was a German 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 and used the more rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment.

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