32 Notable Quotes By Ferdinand Foch On Battles, War, Life And More
Ferdinand Foch was a French military scholar and warrior. Roused by the stories of the Napoleonic Wars heard during childhood, he chose to seek a military vocation and joined the French Armed forces. As an educator at the Staff School, he was noted for his top to bottom investigation of the ‘Franco-Prussian’ and ‘Napoleonic battles’ and their significance in military operations. He was significantly influenced by the Clausewitzian logic which eventually shaped his military doctrines. A number of his counterparts misjudged his principles of military strategies. He accomplished the rank of associate President for his commendable execution amid the ‘Principal Clash of Marne’. As a reward for his gifted military strategies, Lord George V of the Unified Kingdom honored him as a privileged ‘Knight Great Cross of the Oder of the Bath’. Here is a collection of sayings and quotations by the noted French commander during World War I. Read through the quotes and thoughts by Ferdinand Foch who considered human soul on fire as the most significant weapon on earth.
The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.
Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.
It takes 15,000 casualties to train a major general.
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear.
A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost.
In whatever position you find yourself determine first your objective.
The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.
My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.
No study is possible on the battlefield.
This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years.
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.
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.
Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.
In whatever position you find yourself, determine first your objective.
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.
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.
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.
Don't drown yourself in details. Look at the whole.
It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.
Victory is a thing of the will.
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.
The unknown is the governing principle of war.
I am conscious of having served England as I served my own country.
Mon centre cède, ma droite recule. Situation excellente, j'attaque.
There is but one means to extenuate the effects of enemy fire: it is to develop a more violent fire oneself.
In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.
Regulations are all very well for drill, but in the hour of danger they are no more use. You have to learn to think.
A beaten general is disgraced forever.
