War Is The Domain Of Physical Exertion

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.

Great Things Alone Can Make A Great Mind, And Petty Things Will Make A Petty Mind Unless A Man Rejects Them As Completely Alien.

Modern Wars Are Seldom Fought Without Hatred Between Nations; This Serves More Or Less As A Substitute For Hatred Between Individuals.

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.

After We Have Thought Out Everything Carefully In Advance And Have Sought And Found Without Prejudice The Most Plausible Plan, We Must Not Be Ready To Abandon It At The Slightest Provocation. Should This Certainty Be Lacking, We Must Tell Ourselves That Nothing Is Accomplished In Warfare Without Daring; That The Nature Of War Certainly Does Not Let Us See At All Times Where We Are Going; That What Is Probable Will Always Be Probable Though At The Moment It May Not Seem So; And Finally, That We Cannot Be Readily Ruined By A Single Error, If We Have Made Reasonable Preparations.