Strategy Quotes

"Always be you, play chess, not checkers and always play the long game." "Who wishes to fight must first count the cost." "One may know how to conquer without being able to do it." "What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease." "The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent." "He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious." "There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed." "Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack." "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself." "The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch'ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its mi" "In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack--the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers." "Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy." "We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors." "Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength." "Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger."