All War Presupposes Human Weakness And Seeks

The Object Of Defense Is Preservation; And Since It Is Easier To Hold Ground Than To Take It, Defense Is Easier Than Attack. But Defense Has A Passive Purpose: Preservation; And Attack A Positive One: Conquest.... If Defense Is The Stronger Form Of War, Yet Has A Negative Object, It Follows That It Should Be Used Only So Long As Weakness Compels, And Be Abandoned As Soon As We Are Strong Enough To Pursue A Positive Object.

No One Starts A War--or Rather, No One In His Sense Ought To Do So--without First Being Clear In His Mind What He Intends To Achieve By The War And How He Intends To Conduct It.

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.

Pursue One Great Decisive Aim With Force And Determination.

War Is Not An Exercise Of The Will Directed At An Inanimate Matter.