War Quotes

War is waged only with vigor, decision, and unshaken will; one must not grope or hesitate.

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

The knowledge of higher leadership can only be acquired by the study of military history and actual experience. There are no hard and fast rules; everything depends on the plans of the general, the condition of the troops, the season of the year, and a thousand other circumstances, which have the effect that no one case will ever resemble another.

Friends, I promise you this conquest; but there is one condition you must swear to fulfill-to respect the people whom you liberate, to repress the horrible pillaging committed by scoundrels incited by our enemies. Otherwise you would not be the liberators of the people; you would be their scourge...Plunderers will be shot without mercy; already, several have been.

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

The man who cannot look upon the battlefield dry-eyed will allow many men to be killed uselessly.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon-shots.

We are waging war as generous enemies, and we wish only to crush the tyrants who enslave you.

The Princes of this house have abandoned their capital, not like soldiers of honour who cede to the circumstances and setbacks of the war, but like the perjured who are pursued by their own remorse.

I have fought sixty battles and I have learned nothing which I did not know at the beginning.

Two of my Marshalls are racing to get under their orders the Italian troops; i leave it to Suchet who has better ambitions than Macdonald. The Italians will soon be recognized again as the first soldiers of Europe. I'm very proud of my brave Italian army.

I see that everybody has lost their head since the infamous capitulation of Bailén. I realise that I must go there myself to get the machine working again.

Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze.

A general of ordinary talent, occupying a bad position and surprised by a superior force, seeks his safety in retreat; but a great captain supplies all deficiencies by his courage, and marches boldly to meet the attack. By this means he disconcerts his adversary, and if this last shows any irresolution in his movements, a skilful leader, profiting by his indecision, may even hope for victory.

Among so many conflicting ideas and so many different perspectives, the honest man is confused and distressed and the skeptic becomes wicked ... Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which devastates, loots, and burns. Considering the alternative, it is better to eat than to be eaten.

From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs.

In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.

The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time.