Quotes About Strategy

You are not a prince, you are an assassin. You are not the player, you are the game-piece. And when you make your own moves, you set every other strategy awry and endanger every piece on the board!

The diplomacy of the knife.

A wise old man taught me that diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power. Persuasion, not force, works best and lasts longest. Make this alliance in the dukes' best interest and they will be eager to welcome and honor the Narcheska when she arrives.

diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power. Persuasion, not force, works best and lasts longest.

The art of diplomacy is the luck of knowing more of your rival's secrets than he knows of yours. Always deal from a position of power.

Suspense was an excellent tool for keeping powerful people off balance.

War later is almost always better than war now.

El arte de la diplomacia consiste en tener la suerte de conocer más secretos de tu rival que este de ti. Actúa siempre desde una posición ventajosa. Estas eran las máximas de Artimañas. Y Veraz las acataba.

Not all men are the same, you know. With someone such as Gavriel, I would suggest appearing aloof, not chasing too much. He might see that as suffocating rather than charming." Her words are sharp, but her voice is sweet, like honey on the edge of a blade, and meant to be cutting. I comfort myself with the knowledge that if Duval ever feels smothered by me, it will be because I am holding a pillow over his face and commending his soul to Mortain.

You are attempting to be logical, I suspect, and logic has little to do with government, and nothing at all to do with military administration.

It was a war requiring the use of strategy as well as of tactics - but, above all, it was a war that could only be won by the use of superior technology and superior skills in command.

The French Army expended more artillery ammunition in September 1914 than it had done in the whole of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Total French production of the 75 mm shell in 1914 amounted to 14,000 shells a day, at a time when one single battery of 75 mm guns could easily shoot off 1,000 shells a day.

the large numbers attacking in the early hours of 1 July - 64 battalions, mostly in line - was of no advantage, since they simply offered a large target to the enemy guns. As a result, this 'extended line' formation was blown away in a matter of minutes, after which the survivors advanced, if at all, in small parties, dodging from crater to crater, a tactic which should arguably have been adopted from the start.

The generals were now two years into this war and it should have been - and indeed was - glaringly apparent that the methods being employed to attack the enemy lines, be they British, French or German, were simply not working. Increasing the scale of the attack by the current methods simply increased the number of casualties

it is difficult not to wonder what the outcome would have been if the Entente had simply held its ground in France and Belgium and tackled Germany and Austria-Hungary by sending every piece of kit they could spare to the Russians - which is not unlike what happened until 1944 in the Second World War.

Von Falkenhayn's plan for Verdun, however flawed in execution, was at least possible; he did not intend to gain ground, penetrate the enemy defences or take Verdun. He simply wanted to kill soldiers, to bleed the French Army to death. The Anglo-French Somme plan, even if it had not been disrupted and reduced by the Verdun offensive, was a far more risky business, with little chance of achieving its objectives without new tactical ideas and new equipment.

the capture of Douaumont took less than four hours and cost the 24th Brandenburg Regiment just 32 men killed and 40 wounded. It was later estimated that French losses resulting from the fall of Douaumont, or incurred in its recapture many months later, amounted to around 100,000 men.

most of the French generals were, indeed, totally indifferent to the welfare of the men, provided the attacks went in.

by electing to hold Verdun, de Castelnau was doing exactly what von Falkenhayn wanted. He was opting to hold a position that could only be defended at a great cost in lives. The fact that it was to cost Germany as many men as France would prove a poor consolation; Germany had more men to lose.

The British Army was learning how to fight the 'all-arms' battle by this stage of the war; no longer would the brunt be left to the infantry.

assessing risk factors and allowing for contingencies. But how often do they?

have an exit strategy. Just in case your current plan doesn't work, always know what your endgame is and where you're going next.

I plan everything. I set everyone in motion, and when the moment comes, I strike. I always win in the end. They never see me coming. Know why? Because I'm already there.

Don't you agree? Swordplay is a dance of sorts, an understanding of the logical, most sophisticated next step. Except that in a fight, one must take the unexpected step. In dance it is all about taking the right, expected step.