Quotes from Helmuth von Moltke

Perpetual peace is a dream, and it is not even a beautiful dream. War is an element in the order of the world ordained by God. In it the noblest virtues of mankind are developed; courage and the abnegation of self, faithfulness to duty, and a spirit of sacrifice: the soldier gives his life. Without war the world would stagnate, and lose itself in materialism.

First ponder, then dare.

No plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main force.

The fate of every nation rests in its own power.

First weigh the considerations, then take the risks.