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Carl von Clausewitz Quotes (81 quotes)

“Modern wars are seldom fought without hatred between nations; this serves more or less as a substitute for hatred between individuals.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“...talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“The more physical the activity, the less the difficulties will be. The more the activity becomes intellectual and turns into motives which exercise a determining influence on the commander's will, the more the difficulties will increase.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“Knowledge in war is very simple, being concerned with so few subjects, and only with their final results at that. But this does not make its application easy.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“...an intellectual instinct which extracts the essence from the phenomena of life, as a bee sucks honey from a flower. In addition to study and reflections, life itself serves as a source.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“Knowledge must be so absorbed into the mind that it ceases to exist in a separate, objective way. ...in 1797 the secret of the effectiveness of resisting to the last had not yet been discovered.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“...it is better to go on striking in the same direction than to move one's forces this way and that.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“There are times when the utmost daring is the height of wisdom.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“A prince or general can best demonstrate his genius by managing a campaign exactly to suit his objectives and his resources, doing neither too much nor too little.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become evident in the final success.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

“Where execution is dominant, as it is in the individual events of a war whether great or small, then intellectual factors are reduced to a minimum.”
―Carl von Clausewitz

Source/Notes:
On War (1832)

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Carl von Clausewitz

Picture Source: Wikimedia Commons

Carl von Clausewitz

Born: June 1, 1780

Died: November 16, 1831 (aged 51)

Nationality: Belgian

Occupation: Soldier

Bio: Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war. His most notable work, Vom Kriege, was unfinished at his death.

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