Politics Is The Womb In Which War

The Invention Of Gunpowder And The Constant Improvement Of Firearms Are Enough In Themselves To Show That The Advance Of Civilization Has Done Nothing Practical To Alter Or Deflect The Impulse To Destroy The Enemy, Which Is Central To The Very Idea Of War.

In War, While Everything Is Simple, Even The Simplest Thing Is Difficult. Difficulties Accumulate And Produce Frictions Which No One Can Comprehend Who Has Not Seen War.

The Enemy Of A Good Plan Is The Dream Of A Perfect Plan.

The Object Of Defense Is Preservation; And Since It Is Easier To Hold Ground Than To Take It, Defense Is Easier Than Attack. But Defense Has A Passive Purpose: Preservation; And Attack A Positive One: Conquest.... If Defense Is The Stronger Form Of War, Yet Has A Negative Object, It Follows That It Should Be Used Only So Long As Weakness Compels, And Be Abandoned As Soon As We Are Strong Enough To Pursue A Positive Object.

In War, Where Imperfect Intelligence, The Threat Of A Catastrophe, And The Number Of Accidents Are Incomparably Greater Than Any Other Human Endeavor, The Amount Of Missed Opportunities, So To Speak, Is Therefore Bound To Be Greater.