Desperate Affairs Require Desperate Remedies.

In Short, Absolute, So-called Mathematical, Factors Never Find A Firm Basis In Military Calculations. From The Very Start, There Is An Interplay Of Possibilities, Probabilities, Good Luck And Bad, That Weaves Its Way Throughout The Length And Breadth Of The Tapestry. In The Whole Range Of Human Activities, War Most Closely Resembles A Game Of Cards.

It Is Even Better To Act Quickly And Err Than To Hesitate Until The Time Of Action Is Past.

We Must Evaluate The Political Sympathies Of Other States And The Effect War May Have On Them. To Assess These Things In All Their Ramifications And Diversity Is Plainly A Colossal Task. Rapid And Correct Appraisal Of Them Clearly Calls For The Intuition Of A Genius; To Master All This Complex Mass By Sheer Methodical Examination Is Obviously Impossible. Bonaparte Was Quite Right When He Said That Newton Himself Would Quail Before The Algebraic Problems It Could Pose.

After We Have Thought Out Everything Carefully In Advance And Have Sought And Found Without Prejudice The Most Plausible Plan, We Must Not Be Ready To Abandon It At The Slightest Provocation. Should This Certainty Be Lacking, We Must Tell Ourselves That Nothing Is Accomplished In Warfare Without Daring; That The Nature Of War Certainly Does Not Let Us See At All Times Where We Are Going; That What Is Probable Will Always Be Probable Though At The Moment It May Not Seem So; And Finally, That We Cannot Be Readily Ruined By A Single Error, If We Have Made Reasonable Preparations.

Strength Of Character Does Not Consist Solely In Having Powerful Feelings, But In Maintaining One's Balance In Spite Of Them.