B. H. Liddell Hart quotes

B. H. Liddell Hart was a British military historian and strategist, renowned for his influential theories on modern warfare. His advocacy of the "indirect approach" profoundly shaped military tactics in the twentieth century. He authored numerous books and articles that continue to impact military thought today. Here are 35 of his quotes:

Loss of hope rather than loss of life is what decides the issues of war. But helplessness induces hopelessness. (B. H. Liddell Hart)
Guerrilla war is a kind of war waged by the few but dependent on the support of many. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
To foster the people's willing spirit is often as important as to possess the more concrete forms of power. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The unexpected cannot guarantee success, but it guarantees the best chance of success. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
No man can exactly calculate the capacity of human genius and stupidity, nor the incapacity of will. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
Direct pressure always tends to harden and consolidate the resistance of an opponent. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
War is always a matter of doing evil in the hope that good may come of it. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
A complacent satisfaction with present knowledge is the chief bar to the pursuit of knowledge. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
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. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The search for the truth for truth's sake is the mark of the historian. (B. H. Liddell Hart)
To ensure attaining an objective, one should have alternate objectives. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
Inflict the least possible permanent injury, for the enemy of to-day is the customer of the morrow and the ally of the future. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The only thing harder than getting a new idea into the military mind is to get an old one out. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
If you want peace, understand war. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The theory of the indirect approach operates on the line of least expectation. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
Air Power is, above all, a psychological weapon - and only short-sighted soldiers, too battle-minded, underrate the importance of psychological factors in war. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
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. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The most effective indirect approach is one that lures or startles the opponent into a false move - so that, as in ju-jitsu, his own effort is turned into the lever of his overthrow. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The military weapon is but one of the means that serve the purposes of war: one out of the assortment which grand strategy can employ. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
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)
Every action is seen to fall into one of three main categories, guarding, hitting, or moving. Here, then, are the elements of combat, whether in war or pugilism. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
In any problem where an opposing force exists and cannot be regulated, one must foresee and provide for alternative courses. Adaptability is the law which governs survival in war as in life ... To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it; the best chance of overcoming such obstruction is to have a plan that can be easily varied to fit the circumstances met. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
With growing experience, all skillful commanders sought to profit by the power of the defensive, even when on the offensive. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart
The implied threat of using nuclear weapons to curb guerrillas was as absurd as to talk of using a sledge hammer to ward off a swarm of mosquitoes. View quote
B. H. Liddell Hart