Quotes About Strategy

We made sure that we were right and had planned for every contingency before we went ahead.

whereas Rockefeller brought a rational spirit to the business, and this counted among his greatest contributions.

Lincoln's political grammar always gravitated to the future tense.

After a siege of 293 days, Grant forced the Confederates to abandon Petersburg and Richmond on the same day.

Grant's aggressive decision to press forward toward Vicksburg in November 1862, stood in stark contrast with the tentativeness of other major Union commanders. McClellan hesitated after his incomplete victory at Antietam on September 17, allowing Lee to cross back over the Potomac into the safety of Virginia. Buell, following his strategic victory at Perryville on October 8, did not pursue a bloodied Bragg.

Scott's "Anaconda Plan" failed to consider what the Southern troops would be doing while the Northern troops took several months to travel to and sail down the Mississippi. Lincoln knew that the public would never have the patience for Scott's plan. In listening to his daily visitors, he came to understand that his Northern audience needed to see some results if he and the Union would retain their support.

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose.

But our strategy for peace with freedom must also be based on strength—economic strength and military strength.

I'd learned a few lessons about negotiating: You're unlikely to ever get all you want; you'll probably get more of what you want if you don't issue ultimatums and leave your adversary room to maneuver; you shouldn't back your adversary into a corner, embarrass him, or humiliate him; and sometimes the easiest way to get some things done is for the top people to do them alone and in private.

N.S.C. briefing. Castro is very nervous. We'll try to keep him that way.

Morality in the long run aligned with strategy.

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.

As a rule of thumb, it was always safer if the Commander-in-Chief formulated a risky plan.

political position. Back in

Of course, Kaa could have crushed a dozen Mowglis if he had let himself go; but he played carefully, and never loosed one-tenth of his power. Ever since Mowgli was strong enough to endure a little rough handling, Kaa had taught him this game, and it suppled his limbs as nothing else could.

When a snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next.

Now I shall go far and far into the North, playing the Great Game

Forcing the carefully planned lie out with all the casualness he could muster, he said

A ca?? t? spraw?, tak spokojnie i godnie poprowadzon?, minister uzna? za sukces, za? nasza prasa okre?li?a jako zwyci?stwo. Tak zawsze jako? minister kierowa?, ?e wszystko na sukces wychodzi?o i dobrze by?o, a bali?my si?, ?e gdyby ministra onego nie sta?o, wnet by sm?tkiem powia?o, co si? potem sprawdzi?o, kiedy nam go uby?o.

Perhaps the wolf wasn't quite so dangerous as he pretended. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out for sure——give him a little rope and see if he hung himself. And pray that he didn't tie her up with it instead.

That's what the British do, you know. They accommodate, and then they assimilate. It's very effective. It's their way of disarming the opposition, and it works.

He remembered the old Chinese proverb, sometimes ascribed to Confucius: If you sit by the river for long enough, the body of your enemy will float by.

You can lay your strategies as carefully as you like, but women will undo them at a stroke.