“War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.”
Variant: War Is Merely the Continuation of Policy by Other Means
Source: On War (1832), Book 1, Chapter 1, Section 24, in the Princeton University Press translation (1976)
Variant translation: War is merely the continuation of politics by other means.
Context: War Is Merely the Continuation of Policy by Other Means
We see, therefore, that war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means. What remains peculiar to war is simply the peculiar nature of its means.
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Carl von Clausewitz68
German-Prussian soldier and military theorist 1780–1831Related quotes
Andrei Sakharov (1921–1989) Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights activist
Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), Dangers, The Threat of Nuclear War
“All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means.”
Zhou Enlai (1898–1976) 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China
As quoted in Saturday Evening Post (27 March 1954); this is a play upon the famous maxim of Clausewitz: "War is the continuation of politics by other means".
“War is the continuation of politics.”
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
In this sense war is politics and war itself is a political action; since ancient times there has never been a war that did not have a political character... But war has its own particular characteristics and in this sense it cannot be equated with politics in general. "War is the continuation of politics by other means."When politics develops to a certain stage beyond which it cannot proceed by usual means, ware breaks out to sweep the obstacles from the way. When the obstacle is removed and our political aim attained the war will stop. But if the obstacle is not completely swept away, the war will have to continue till the aim is fully accomplished.... It can therefore be said the politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
On Protracted Warfare (1938)
Paul Virilio (1932–2018) French philosopher
From Ctheory Interview With Paul Virilio 'The Kosovo War Took Place In Orbital Space: Paul Virilio in Conversation with John Armitage' http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=132
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
(zh-CN) “战争是政治的继续”，在这点上说，战争就是政治，战争本身就是政治性质的行动，从古以来没有不带政治性的战争。
1930s, On Protracted Warfare (1938)
“For me, painting means the continuation of dreaming by other means.”
Neo Rauch (1960) German painter
As quoted in "Neo Rauch: ‘For Me, Painting Means the Continuation of Dreaming by other Means’" at the Goethe-Institut (February 2007) http://www.goethe.de/kue/bku/thm/kab/en2085683.htm
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) Father of republic India, champion of human rights, father of India's Constitution, polymath, revolutionary…
On Communism, Thoughts of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar https://books.google.com/books?id=6nolAQAAIAAJ, p. 107
