The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is a dangerous fallacy, which owes its inception to the desire to evade the price of victory.
WISDOM · VERIFIED · EN
Douglas Haig Quote
“Once the mass of the defending infantry become possessed of low moral, the battle is as good as lost.”
0
Source: Quotables — alvations/Quotables (CC0 1.0 dataset)
Attribution status: verified · Publication status: cleared
Explore more quotes attributed to Douglas Haig or browse wisdom quotes.
If you believe this quote is incorrectly attributed or should be removed, see Copyright and quote corrections.
Related verified quotes
So long as the opposing forces are at the outset approximately equal in numbers and moral and there are no flanks to turn, a long struggle for supremacy is inevitable.
Further, a defensive policy involves the loss of the initiative, with all the consequent disadvantages to the defender.
Obviously, the greater the length of a war the higher is likely to be the number of casualties in it on either side.
Ability involves responsibility. Power to its last particle is duty.
Man is not altogether an imbecile. True, "circumstances do make the man." But they make him only in the sense and degree that he permits them to make him.