39 Ferdinand Foch Quotes

Ferdinand Foch quotes

1. Mon centre cede, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.

2. The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

3. I am conscious of having served England as I served my own country.

4. A radish will never stand in the way of victory.

5. This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.

6. In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.

7. One does simply what one can in order to apply what one knows.

8. The laurels of victory are at the point of the enemy bayonets. They must be plucked there; they must be carried by a hand-to-hand fight if one really means to conquer.

9. A beaten general is disgraced forever.

10. There is but one means to extenuate the effects of enemy fire: it is to develop a more violent fire oneself.

11. None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

12. The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.

13. Les avions sont des jouets interessants mais n'ont aucune utilite militaire

1. A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost.

2. My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.

3. Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.

4. Far from being a sum of distinct and partial results, victory is the consequence of efforts, some of which are victorious while others appear to be fruitless, which nevertheless all aim at a common goal, all drive at a common result: namely, at a decision, a conclusion which alone can provide victory.

5. In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself. In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final . Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.

6. One is defeated only when one accepts defeat.

7. The unknown is the governing principle of war.

8. The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.

9. It takes 15,000 casualties to train a major general.

10. A war not only arises, but derives its nature , from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the moment when it breaks out. This amounts to saying:;: try and know why and with the help of what you are going to act; then you will find out how to act.

11. 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.

12. School is a building that has four walls-with tomorrow inside. Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. There are many ways of going forward, but there is only one way of standing still. A lot of us would like to move mountains, but few of us are willing to practice on small hills. Doing your best is more important than being the best. Giant oak trees started out as little nuts. The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

13. Regulations are all very well for drill, but in the hour of danger they are no more use. You have to learn to think.

14. In whatever position you find yourself, determine first your objective.

15. 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.

16. The distribution of troops devoted to the defence of a place includes a garrison, an occupying force, numerically as weak as possible; a reserve as strong as possible, designed for counterattacking and for providing itself, at the moment it goes into action, with a security service which will guard it from any possible surprise.

17. Every manoeuvre must be the development of a scheme; it must aim at a goal.

18. It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.

19. All the same, the fundamental truths which govern that art are still unchangeable; just as the principles of mechanics must always govern architecture, whether the building be made of wood, stone, iron or concrete; just as the principles of harmony govern music of whatever kind. It is still necessary, then, to establish the principles of war.

20. Don't drown yourself in details. Look at the whole.

21. No study is possible on the battlefield.

22. Victory is a thing of the will.

23. To inform, and, therefore to reconnoitre , this is the first and constant duty of the advanced guard.

24. 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.

25. The fundamental qualities for good execution of a plan is first; intelligence; then discernment and judgment, which enable one to recognize the best method as to attain it; the singleness of purpose; and, lastly, . . . stubborn will.

26. 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.