Carl von Clausewitz Quotes Proverbs, and Aphorisms

• July 1, 1780 – November 16, 1831
• Born in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Germany)
• Military officer and military theorist

Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian general and military theorist best known for his seminal work On War (Vom Kriege), which remains one of the most influential treatises on military strategy and theory. He emphasized the complex nature of war, describing it as a continuation of politics by other means and highlighting the role of chance, friction, and the moral forces in conflict. Clausewitz argued that war is shaped by the interplay of violence, chance, and reason. Though praised for his deep strategic insights, his abstract style has been criticized as overly dense. Nevertheless, his ideas continue to shape military doctrine and political strategy globally.

1. “All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.”
2. “War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.”
3. “Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.”
4. “The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.”
5. “War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.”
6. “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.”
7. “Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.”
8. “War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.”
9. “It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.”
10. “Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.”
11. “The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.”
12. “A conqueror is always a lover of peace.”
13. “Politics is the womb in which war develops.”
14. “War is the province of danger.”
15. “Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.”
16. “If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.”
17. “The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.”
18. “Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.”
19. “Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.”
20. “War is the continuation of politics by other means.”
21. “To secure peace is to prepare for war.”
22. “War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.”
23. “Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.”
24. “Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.”
25. “War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.”