“Discipline in war counts more than fury.”
Book 7; Variant translation: No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.
Few men are brave by nature, but good discipline and experience make many so.
Good order and discipline in an army are more to be depended upon than ferocity.
As translated by Neal Wood (1965)
The Art of War (1520)
Context: No proceeding is better than that which you have concealed from the enemy until the time you have executed it. To know how to recognize an opportunity in war, and take it, benefits you more than anything else. Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many. Discipline in war counts more than fury.
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Niccolo Machiavelli 130
Italian politician, Writer and Author 1469–1527Related quotes
“In an aphorism, aptness counts for more than truth.”
City Aphorisms, Fourth Selection (1987)
“The task counts more than the one who does it.”
Source: The Chronicles of Prydain (1964–1968), Book I: The Book of Three (1964), Chapter 2

“Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline.”
"On Strategy" (1871), as translated in Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings (1993) by Daniel J. Hughes and Harry Bell, p. 124
Variants:
War is a matter of expedients.
As quoted in "Nothing Went According To Plan" by Jim Lacey in TIME magazine (15 April 2003)
If in war, from the beginning of the operations, everything is uncertain except such will and energy as the commander carries in himself, there cannot possibly be practical value for strategy in general principles, rules derived from them and systems built up upon the rules. … Strategy is a system of expedients. It is more than science, it is the translation of science into practical life, the development of an original leading thought in accordance with the ever-changing circumstances.
As quoted in Government and the War (1918) by Spenser Wilkinson
As quoted in Prussia : The Perversion of an Idea (1994) by Giles MacDonogh, p. 166 The wordplay with wägen and wagen, weigh and venture ("ehe wäg's dann wag's") is much older than Moltke -->
Context: Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline. It is the translation of knowledge to practical life, the improvement of the original leading thought in accordance with continually changing situations.

Source: Defeat Into Victory (1961), p. 451
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“Art implies discipline; the more excellent the art, the more rigorous the discipline.”
Source: Demon Princes (1964-1981), The Palace of Love (1967), Chapter 7 (p. 356)