In 1793 Such A Force As No

There Are Very Few Men-and They Are The Exceptions-who Are Able To Think And Feel Beyond The Present Moment

The General Unreliability Of All Information Presents A Special Problem In War: All Action Takes Place, So To Speak, In The Twilight, Which, Like Fog Or Moonlight, Often Tends To Make Things Seem Grotesque And Larger Than They Really Are. Whatever Is Hidden From Full View In This Feeble Light Has To Be Guessed At By Talent, Or Simply Left To Chance. So Once Again For The Lack Of Objective Knowledge, One Has To Trust To Talent Or To Luck.

Be Audacious And Cunning In Your Plans, Firm And Persevering In Their Execution, Determined To Find A Glorious End.

A General In Time Of War Is Constantly Bombarded By Reports Both True And False; By Errors Arising From Fear Or Negligence Or Hastiness; By Disobedience Born Of Right Or Wrong Interpretations, Of Ill Will; Of A Proper Or Mistaken Sense Of Duty; Of Laziness; Or Of Exhaustion; And By Accident That Nobody Could Have Foreseen. In Short, He Is Exposed To Countless Impressions, Most Of Them Disturbing, Few Of Them Encouraging. ... If A Man Were To Yield To These Pressures, He Would Never Complete An Operation.

[...] To Introduce Into The Philosophy Of War Itself A Principle Of Moderation Would Be An Absurdity