"A bold general may be lucky, but no general can be lucky unless he is bold. The general who allows himself to be boun…"

"It is in peace that regulations and routine become important and that the qualities of boldness and originality are c…"

"The beginnings of any war by the British ('still as Saxon slow at starting, still as weirdly wont to win' [The Old Wa…"

"I can only say that I have always believed in doing everything possible in war to mystify and mislead one’s opponent…."

"No amount of study or learning will make a man a leader unless he has the natural qualities of one."

"Yet the British soldier himself is one of the world’s greatest humorists. That unhumorous race, the Germans, held an …"

"A general may succeed for some time in persuading his superiors that he is a good commander: he will never persuade h…"

"The higher commander who goes to Field Service Regulations for tactical guidance inspires about as much confidence as…"

"The British have been a free people and are still a comparatively free people; and though we are not, thank Heaven, a…"

"All his life Wavell had been not only a student of the art of modern war, but a student of the art of war throughout …"