War is a grim, cruel business, a business justified only as a means of sustaining the forces of good against those of evil.

War is composed of nothing but accidents...there is but one favorable moment, the great art is to seize it.

If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter, and consequently less inhuman.

War is ninety percent information.

Make war offensively; it is the sole means to become a great captain and to fathom the secrets of the art.

Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic. Make them your models. This is the only way to become a great general and to master the secrets of the art of war. With your own genius enlightened by this study, you will reject all maxims opposed to those of these great commanders.