List of B. H. Liddell Hart Quotes

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.

A Modern State Is Such A Complex And Interdependent Fabric That It Offers A Target Highly Sensitive To A Sudden And Overwhelming Blow From The Air.

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.

For If We Merely Take What Obviously Appears The Line Of Least Resistance, Its Obviousness Will Appeal To The Opponent Also; And This Line May No Longer Be That Of Least Resistance. In Studying The Physical Aspect, We Must Never Lose Sight Of The Psychological, And Only When Both Are Combined Is The Strategy Truly An Indirect Approach, Calculated To Dislocate The Opponent's Balance.

In Should Be The Duty Of Every Soldier To Reflect On The Experiences Of The Past, In The Endeavor To Discover Improvements, In His Particular Sphere Of Action, Which Are Practicable In The Immediate Future.

For Even The Best Of Peace Training Is More Theoretical Than Practical Experience ... Indirect Practical Experience May Be The More Valuable Because Infinitely Wider.

The Hydrogen Bomb Is Not The Answer To The Western Peoples' Dream Of Full And Final Insurance Of Their Security ... While It Has Increased Their Striking Power It Has Sharpened Their Anxiety And Deepened Their Sense Of Insecurity.

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.

If You Wish For Peace, Understand War.

Direct Experience Is Inherently Too Limited To Form An Adequate Foundation Either For Theory Or For Application. At The Best It Produces An Atmosphere That Is Of Value In Drying And Hardening The Structure Of Thought. The Greater Value Of Indirect Experience Lies In Its Greater Variety And Extent. History Is Universal Experience, The Experience Not Of Another, But Of Many Others Under Manifold Conditions.

The Principle Of Compulsory Service, Embodied In The System Of Conscription, Lias Been The Means By Which Modem Dictators And Military Gangs Have Shackled Their People After A Coup D'état, And Bound Them To Their Own Aggressive Purposes. In View Of The Great Service That Conscription Has Rendered To Tyranny And War, It Is Fundamentally Shortsighted For Any Liberty-loving And Peace-desiring Peoples To Maintain It As An Imagined Safeguard, Lest They Become The Victims Of The Monster They Have Helped To Preserve.

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.