Daily quote by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

• The tactical result of an engagement forms the base for new strategic decisions because victory or defeat in a battle changes the situation to such a degree that no human acumen is able to see beyond the first battle. In this sense one should understand Napoleon's saying: "I have never had a plan of operations."
  Therefore no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.
  • Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus.
  • "On Strategy" (1871)/"Über Strategie" (1871), as translated in Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings (1993) by Daniel J. Hughes and Harry Bell, p. 92; German collected in: Kriegsgeschichtliche Einzelschriften, H.13 (1890), hier zitiert nach: Militārische Werke, Band 2, Teil 2. Mittler & Sohn Berlin 1900. S. 291 books.google
  • Paraphrased variants:
  • No plan survives contact with the enemy.
    • Paraphrased in The Swordbearers : Studies in Supreme Command in the First World War (1963) by Correlli Barnett, p. 35
  • No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
    • As quoted in Donnybrook : The Battle of Bull Run, 1861 (2005) by David Detzer, p. 233