The Power To Command Has Never Meant

To Be Disciplined Does Not Mean Being Silent, Abstaining, Or Doing Only What One Thinks One May Undertake Without Risk; It Is Not The Art Of Eluding Responsibility; It Means Acting In Compliance With Orders Received, And Therefore Finding In One's Own Mind, By Effort And Reflection, The Possibility To Carry Out Such Orders. It Also Means Finding In One's Own Will The Energy To Face The Risks Involved In Execution.

The Truth Is, No Study Is Possible On The Battle-field; One Does There Simply What One Can In Order To Apply What One Knows . Therefore, In Order To Do Even A Little, One Has Already To Know A Great Deal And To Know It Well.

I Am Conscious Of Having Served England As I Served My Own Country.

The Military Mind Always Imagines That The Next War Will Be On The Same Lines As The Last. That Has Never Been The Case And Never Will Be. One Of The Great Factors On The Next War Will Be Aircraft Obviously. The Potentialities Of Aircraft Attack On A Large Scale Are Almost Incalculable.

This Absence Of Similarity Among Military Questions Naturally Brings Out The Inability Of Memory To Solve Them; Also The Sterility Of Invariable Forms, Such As Figures, Geometrical Drawings ( épures ), Plans ( Schémas ), Etc. One Only Right Solution Imposes Itself:;: Namely, The Application, Varying According To Circumstances, Of Fixed Principles.