Quotes About Strategy

Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different, and you cannot assume that what worked before will work today. You must cut yourself loose from the past and open your eyes to the present. Your tendency to fight the last war may lead to your final war.

the use of honesty is indeed a power strategy, intended to convince people of one's noble, good-hearted, selfless character. It is a form of persuasion, even a subtle form of coercion.

Y la mejor manera de encontrar las debilidades del jefe no es por medio de espías, sino de un fuerte abrazo. Detras de una fachada amigable, aun servil, puedes observar a tus enemigos, lograr que se sinceren y delaten. Llega a lo más hondo; piensa como ellos. Una vez que descubras su vulnerabilidad —

Finally, power itself always exists in concentrated forms. In any organization it is inevitable for a small group to hold the strings. And often it is not those with the titles. In the game of power, only the fool flails about without fixing his target.

In moments of uncertainty and danger, you need to fight this desire to turn inward. Instead, make yourself more accessible, seek out old allies and make new ones, force yourself into more and more different circles. This has been the trick of powerful people for centuries.

The Way of the Samurai is in desperateness. Ten men or more cannot kill such a man. Common sense will not accomplish great things. Simply become insane and desperate.

Power is a game—this cannot be repeated too often—and in games you do not judge your opponents by their intentions but by the effect of their actions.

Trata de persuadir a una persona apelando a su conciencia, diciendo lo que quieres, mostrando todas tus cartas, ¿y qué esperanza te queda? Serás sólo una irritación más por eliminar.

Keep withdrawing, surprising, and stimulating the chase. As long as you do, you have the power.

An understanding of people's hidden motives is the single greatest piece of knowledge you can have in acquiring power.

frente a los agresivos, retírate, déjalos conseguir sus pequeñas victorias.

entre más se relaje el objetivo, más fácil te será inclinarlo a tu voluntad.

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

When your own reputation is solid, use subtler tactics, such as satire and ridicule, to weaken your opponent while making you out as a charming rogue.

The Laws will teach you how to identify these types in advance, which is your greatest defense against them.

Chess contains the concentrated essence of life: First, because to win you have to be supremely patient and farseeing; and second, because the game is built on patterns, whole sequences of moves that have been played before and will be played again

In searching, as you must, for the methods that will gain you the most power for the least effort, you will find the creation of a cultlike following one of the most effective.

People feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention.

If you yearn for power, quickly lay honesty aside, and train yourself in the art of concealing your intentions.

you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: you appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases.

Sometimes, however, it is better to play the most capricious, unpredictable move.

Create a Ladder of Descending Goals

Use this tactic in the following manner: Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals—just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: You appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases.