Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.

Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.

War is the province of danger.

Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity.

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

War is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

To secure peace is to prepare for war.

All action takes place, so to speak, in a kind of twilight, which like a fog or moonlight, often tends to make things seem grotesque and larger than they really are.

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.

A conqueror is always a lover of peace.

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior.

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.

Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation form their purposes.

The more a general is accustomed to place heavy demands on his soldiers, the more he can depend on their response.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.

War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.

The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.

When I tested for Billy Budd, I had that kind of confidence that comes with the certainty that you're not going to get something. I was very rough around the edges.

A liberal knows that the only certainty in this life is change but believes that the change can be directed toward a constructive end.

From this bestial view that the human mind consists of only sense certainty, pleasure and pain, Locke developed an equally bestial theory of the nation. Man originally existed in a State of Nature of complete liberty.

I feel, sometimes, as the renaissance man must have felt in finding new riches at every point and in the certainty that unexplored areas of knowledge and experience await at every turn.

I am certain there is too much certainty in the world.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

The Resistance is a moral certainty, not a poetic one. The true poet never uses words in order to punish someone. His judgment belongs to a creative order; it is not formulated as a prophetic scripture.

The areas of consensus shift unbelievably fast; the bubbles of certainty are constantly exploding.

There is no certainty; there is only adventure.

We can say with certainty - or 90% probability - that the new industries that are about to be born will have nothing to do with information.

If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.

I found it peculiar that those who wanted to take military action could - with 100 per cent certainty - know that the weapons existed and turn out to have zero knowledge of where they were.

From principles is derived probability, but truth or certainty is obtained only from facts.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Fundamentalists are panicked by the apparent disintegration of the family, the disappearance of certainty and the decay of morality. Fear leads them to ask, if we cannot trust the Bible, what can we trust?

It is to be feared that those who emigrate to New South Wales, generally anticipate too great facility in their future operations and certainty of success in conducting them; but they should recollect that competency cannot be obtained without labour.

One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or NO.

A bird in hand is a certainty. But a bird in the bush may sing.

As a painter today you have to work without that essential platform. But if one does not deceive oneself and accepts this lack of certainty, other things may come into play.

Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that the trip has to be made.

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.

The unique and supreme voluptuousness of love lies in the certainty of committing evil. And men and women know from birth that in evil is found all sensual delight.

Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof.