Military Quotes - Page 4

• REAR, n. In American military matters, that exposed part of the army that is nearest to Congress.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Army, Matter, Congress

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.768, Library of America

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• Military men are the scourges of the world.

  Guy de Maupassant

  Men, World, Politics

  "On the Water". Short story by Guy de Maupassant, 1888.

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• A war put off is not a war avoided.

  Charlton Heston

  War, Avoided

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• War is the greatest plague that can afflict mankind... Any scourge is preferable to it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  War, Mankind, Plague

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• In the long run luck is given only to the efficient.

  Helmuth James Graf von Moltke

  Running, Long, Luck

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• For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Deformity, Produce, Womb

  B.H. Liddell Hart (2015). “Why Don't We Learn from History?”, p.62, Lulu Press, Inc

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• For even the best of peace training is more theoretical than practical experience ... indirect practical experience may be the more valuable because infinitely wider.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Training, May, Indirect

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• The predominance of moral factors in all military decisions. On them constantly turns the issue of war and battle. In the history of war they form the more constant factors, changing only in degree, whereas the physical factors are different in almost every war and every military situation.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  War, Issues, Decision

  B.H. Liddell Hart (2015). “Why Don't We Learn from History?”, p.9, Lulu Press, Inc

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• Natural hazards, however formidable, are inherently less dangerous and less uncertain than fighting hazards. All conditions are more calculable, all obstacles more surmountable than those of human resistance.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Fighting, Hazards, Resistance

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• The effect to be sought is the dislocation of the opponent's mind and dispositions - such an effect is the true gauge of an indirect approach.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Mind, Gauges, Opponents

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• While there are many causes for which a state goes to war, its fundamental object can be epitomized as that of ensuring the continuance of its policy - in face of the determination of the opposing state to pursue a contrary policy. In the human will lies the source and mainspring of conflict.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Determination, War, Lying

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• While the nominal strength of a country is represented by its numbers and resources, this muscular development is dependent on the state of its internal organs and nerve-system - upon its stability of control, morale, and supply.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Country, Numbers, Nerves

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• The higher level of grand strategy [is] that of conducting war with a far-sighted regard to the state of the peace that will follow.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  War, Levels, Strategy

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• With growing experience, all skillful commanders sought to profit by the power of the defensive, even when on the offensive.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Growing, Offensive, Profit

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• The more usual reason for adopting a strategy of limited aim is that of awaiting a change in the balance of force ... The essential condition of such a strategy is that the drain on him should be disproportionately greater than on oneself.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Balance, Usual, Essentials

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• No man can exactly calculate the capacity of human genius and stupidity, nor the incapacity of will.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Men, Stupidity, Genius

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• In the case of a state that is seeking not conquest but the maintenance of its security, the aim is fulfilled if the threat is removed - if the enemy is led to abandon his purpose.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Enemy, Purpose, Maintenance

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• An army should always be so distributed that its parts can aid each other and combine to produce the maximum possible concentration of force at one place, while the minimum force necessary is used elsewhere to prepare the success of the concentration.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Army, Aids, Used

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• While hitting one must guard ... In order to hit with effect, the enemy must be taken off his guard.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Taken, Order, Enemy

  B.H. Liddell Hart (2013). “Foch - The Man Of Orleans”, p.367, Read Books Ltd

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• The unexpected cannot guarantee success, but it guarantees the best chance of success.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Guarantees, Chance, Unexpected

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• Inflict the least possible permanent injury, for the enemy of to-day is the customer of the morrow and the ally of the future

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Enemy, Allies, Injury

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• If you find your opponent in a strong position costly to force, you should leave him a line of retreat as the quickest way of loosening his resistance. It should, equally, be a principle of policy, especially in war, to provide your opponent with a ladder by which he can climb down.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Strong, War, Principles

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• It is only to clear from history that states rarely keep faith with each other, save in so far (and so long) as their promises seem to them to combine with their interests.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Long, Promise, Keep The Faith

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• It is folly to imagine that the aggressive types, whether individuals or nations, can be bought off ... since the payment of danegeld stimulates a demand for more danegeld. But they can be curbed. Their very belief in force makes them more susceptible to the deterrent effect of a formidable opposing force.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  Demand, Belief, Imagine

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• The downfall of civilized states tends to come not from the direct assaults of foes, but from internal decay combined with the consequences of exhaustion in war.

  B. H. Liddell Hart

  War, Decay, States

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