Quotes About Tactics

We Deveauxs preferred to talk you to death, rather than face you in physical combat.

Better to be strong,' he [Lolo] said...'if you can't be strong, be clever and make peace with someone who's strong. But always better to be strong yourself.

If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.

I had given her a reassuring smile and patted her hand and told her not to worry, I wouldn't do anything stupid. It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves.

In the hands of the shrewd and the ruthless, chaos had proven a gift.

hide your strength and bide your time.

In other words, FDR understood that to be effective, governance couldn't be so antiseptic that it set aside the basic stuff of politics: You had to sell your program, reward supporters, punch back against opponents, and amplify the facts that helped your cause while fudging the details that didn't.

Cooperate with the Obama administration at your own peril. And if you have to shake his hand, make sure you don't look happy about it.

You ready for me, Wen?" I called out, watching the Chinese leader's face drop in surprise. I then walked around the table to shake each of their hands. "Gentlemen! I've been looking everywhere for you. How about we see if we can do a deal?" Before anybody could object, I grabbed an empty chair and sat down. Across the table, Wen and Singh remained impassive, while Lula and Zuma looked sheepishly down at the papers in front of them.

you can't legitimately criticize someone's tactics if you don't understand his objectives

would show that inside twenty-one feet against a knife, trying to get a gun out is typically a losing bet, especially if you're backing straight up rather than getting off the line.

Naomi, you think this is all an accident? It's a science. There are people out there who are experts at getting others to do tomorrow what was unthinkable today.

Sun Tsu: When strong, feign weakness. When weak, feign strength.

You must think of neither victory nor of defeat, but only of cutting and killing your enemy.

You must think of neither victory nor of defeat, but only of cutting and killing your enemy. I

I hadn't expected her to follow this line of reasoning. I'm usually good at putting myself in the other person's shoes, anticipating his next move. But she had outplayed me on this one. Time to try to regain some initiative, give myself a second to think.

You start slow. You find the subject's limits and get him to spend some time there. He gets used to it. Before long, the limits have moved. You never take him more than a centimeter beyond. You make it feel it's his choice.

I thought of Musashi, the master swordsman, who wrote, You must think of neither victory nor of defeat, but only of cutting and killing your enemy.

Business is like football, Craig. If you have to knock someone down to reach the goal line, you better damn well do it, or you shouldn't put on a uniform and go out on the field in the first place.

War, 46. 267. Bunyan, Intervention, 277

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

To truly win a war, attack the enemy's plan.

Malone kept listening, a saying from Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR spinning through his mind. When your enemy is in the process of destroying himself, stay out of the way.

A good offense is the best defense.