The Practical Value Of History Is To

...regrettable As It May Seem To The Idealist, The Experience Of History Provides Little Warrant For The Belief That Real Progress, And The Freedom That Makes Progress Possible, Lies In Unification. For Where Unification Has Been Able To Establish Unity Of Ideas It Has Usually Ended In Uniformity, Paralysing The Growth Of New Ideas. And Where The Unification Has Merely Brought About An Artificial Or Imposed Unity, Its Irksomeness Has Led Through Discord To Disruption.

If You Want Peace, Understand War.

To Foster The People's Willing Spirit Is Often As Important As To Possess The More Concrete Forms Of Power.

In A Campaign Against More Than One State Or Army, It Is More Fruitful To Concentrate First Against The Weaker Partner Than To Attempt The Overthrow Of The Stronger In The Belief That The Latter's Defeat Will Automatically Involve The Collapse Of The Others.

The Easiest And Quickest Path Into The Esteem Of Traditional Military Authorities Is By The Appeal To The Eye, Rather Than To The Mind. The `polish And Pipeclay' School Is Not Yet Extinct, And It Is Easier For The Mediocre Intelligence To Become An Authority On Buttons, Than On Tactics.