In war, three-quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter.

All of us have heard this term "preventive war" since the earliest days of Hitler. I recall that is about the first time I heard it.

War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men.

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.

Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?

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.