Ferdinand Foch Quotes

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

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#3. My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#8. In tactics, action is the governing rule of war.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#10. 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.

Ferdinand Foch

#11. The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#13. 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.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#15. The unknown is the governing principle of war.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#17. A beaten general is disgraced forever.

Ferdinand Foch

#18. 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.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#21. No study is possible on the battlefield.

Ferdinand Foch

#22. In whatever position you find yourself determine first your objective.

Ferdinand Foch

#23. The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious.

Ferdinand Foch

#24. Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value.

Ferdinand Foch

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

Ferdinand Foch

#26. 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.

Ferdinand Foch

#27. One is defeated only when one accepts defeat.

Ferdinand Foch

#28. Victory is a thing of the will.

Ferdinand Foch