“Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician
On Machiavelli (1827)
“Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.”
— Barbara W. Tuchman, book The Guns of August
Source: The Guns of August
Last update June 3, 2021. History
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general." by Barbara W. Tuchman?
Barbara W. Tuchman45
American historian and author 1912–1989Related quotes
“To minds of a certain cast there is nothing so captivating as simplification and generalization.”
Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy
Book I, Introduction, p. 5
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)
William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher (1815–1899) British lawyer, judge and politician
Yarmouth v. France (1887), L. J. 57 Q. B. 9.
Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles, marquise de Lambert (1647–1733) writer from France
Source: A Mother's Advice to Her Son, 1726, p. 170
“Dead! And so great an artist!”
Qualis artifex pereo!
Sueton book The Twelve Caesars
Suetonius represents this as Nero's exclamation when he had resolved to kill himself, but not as his last words.
Source: The Twelve Caesars, Nero, Ch. 49
Fredric Brown book The Lights in the Sky Are Stars
Source: The Lights in the Sky Are Stars (1953), Chapter 3, “1999” (p. 233)
“An adversary is more hurt by desertion than by slaughter. (General Maxims)”
aduersarium amplius frangunt transfugae quam perempti.
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus book De re militari
De Re Militari (also Epitoma Rei Militaris), Book III, "Dispositions for Action"
Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand author
As quoted in Katherine Mansfield : A Biography (1953) by Antony Alpers, p. 266