Rather Than Comparing [war] To Art We

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.

Courage, Above All Things, Is The First Quality Of A Warrior.

Any Complex Activity, If It Is To Be Carried On With Any Degree Of Virtuosity, Calls For Appropriate Gifts Of Intellect And Temperament. If They Are Outstanding And Reveal Themselves In Exceptional Achievements, Their Possessor Is Called A 'genius'.

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.

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.