Quotes About Strategy

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

From inside fortifications, the gun has no equal among weapons. It is the supreme weapon on the field before the ranks clash, but once swords are crossed the gun becomes useless.

The Eastern front is like a house of cards. If the front is broken through at one point all the rest will collapse.

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

I treat policies like war. I hoodwink one flank so as to trounce the other. In my family we kneel only to God.

You shouldn't underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him.

A battery of field artillery is worth a thousand muskets.

Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!

If you are strong, appear weak. But if you are weak, appear strong.

Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.

It requires infinitely a greater genius to make love, than to make war.

And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.

Quit thinking about what Bobby Lee's gonna do to us and start thinking about what we're going to do to him.

Generals who save troops for the next day are always beaten.

One makes war to win, not because it's just.

Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.

Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

When diplomacy ends, War begins.

War is a highly overrated tool of foreign policy.

Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.

Use justice to rule a country. Use surprise to wage war. Use non-action to govern the world.

I don't care a damn for their guns, or you either, sir! What I want is the Southside Railroad!