War Is...a Trinity Of Violence, Chance, And

War Should Never Be Thought Of As Something Autonomous, But Always As An Instrument Of Policy.

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

If We Consider The Actual Basis Of This Information [i.e., Intelligence], How Unreliable And Transient It Is, We Soon Realize That War Is A Flimsy Structure That Can Easily Collapse And Bury Us In Its Ruins. ... Many Intelligence Reports In War Are Contradictory; Even More Are False, And Most Are Uncertain. This Is True Of All Intelligence But Even More So In The Heat Of Battle, Where Such Reports Tend To Contradict And Cancel Each Other Out. In Short, Most Intelligence Is False, And The Effect Of Fear Is To Multiply Lies And Inaccuracies.

We Must, Therefore, Be Confident That The General Measures We Have Adopted Will Produce The Results We Expect. Most Important In This Connection Is The Trust Which We Must Have In Our Lieutenants. Consequently, It Is Important To Choose Men On Whom We Can Rely And To Put Aside All Other Considerations. If We Have Made Appropriate Preparations, Taking Into Account All Possible Misfortunes, So That We Shall Not Be Lost Immediately If They Occur, We Must Boldly Advance Into The Shadows Of Uncertainty.

There Is Nothing More Common Than To Find Considerations Of Supply Affecting The Strategic Lines Of A Campaign And A War.