shall admit that our imperfect insight into facts in general must
contribute very much to delay action in War, and to modify the
application of the principles pending our conduct.

The possibility of a standstill brings into the action of War a new
modification, inasmuch as it dilutes that action with the element
of time, checks the influence or sense of danger in its course, and
increases the means of reinstating a lost balance of force. The
greater the tension of feelings from which the War springs, the greater
therefore the energy with which it is carried on, so much the shorter
will be the periods of inaction; on the other hand, the weaker the
principle of warlike activity, the longer will be these periods: for
powerful motives increase the force of the will, and this, as we know,
is always a factor in the product of force.


19. FREQUENT PERIODS OF INACTION IN WAR REMOVE IT FURTHER FROM THE
ABSOLUTE, AND MAKE IT STILL MORE A CALCULATION OF PROBABILITIES.

But the slower the action proceeds in War, the more frequent and
longer the periods of inaction, so much the more easily can an error
be repaired; therefore, so much the bolder a General will be in his
calculations, so much the more readily will he keep them below the line
of the absolute, and build everything upon probabilities and conjecture.
Thus, according as the course of the War is more or less slow, more or
less time will be allowed for that which the nature of a concrete
case particularly requires, calculation of probability based on given
circumstances.