Quotes About Tactics

The truly gifted negotiator, then, is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of concessions that will yield a desirable final offer from the opponent, yet is not so outlandish as to be seen as illegitimate from the start.

Boyd, borrowing from Sun Tzu, said the best commander is the one who wins while avoiding battle. The intent is to shatter cohesion, produce paralysis, and bring about collapse of the adversary by generating confusion, disorder, panic, and chaos. Boyd said war is organic and compared his technique to clipping the nerves, muscles, and tendons of an enemy, thus reducing him to jelly. As Boyd

They usually did not fight what is known as a "war of attrition." Rather, they used deception, speed, fluidity of action, and strength against weakness. They used tactics that disoriented and confused—tactics that, in Boyd's words, caused the enemy "to unravel before the fight.

Here Boyd says that to shape the environment, one must manifest four qualities: variety, rapidity, harmony, and initiative. A commander must have a series of responses that can be applied rapidly; he must harmonize his efforts and never be passive. To understand the briefing, one must keep these four qualities in mind.

Generating a rapidly changing environment--that is, engaging in actively that is so quick it is disorienting and appears uncertain or ambiguous to the enemy--inhibits the adversary's ability to adapt and causes confusion and disorder that, in turn, causes an adversary to overreact or underreact. Boyd closed the briefing by saying the message is that whoever can handle the quickest rate of change is the one who survives.

They wanted to know about Commando Sabre.

The art of diplomacy is finding a reasonable route among imperfect alternatives.

The world played chess, while I played checkers.

Tyson had risen to sudden stardom with his ferocious boxing style. When asked why he never deviated from his attack, no matter the opponent, Tyson replied, "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.

That was the problem with crowing too loudly. You gave away your position and made yourself vulnerable.

we concentrate our army into an enormous fist. The very fact that such a fist exists will prevent the enemy from dispersing his forces in a war of manoeuvre, he will not be given any opportunity to loosen the close 'interlinking' of his army; on the contrary, he will be forced to concentrate, to go over to the defence on as restricted an area as possible. In other words, we get conditions of a frontal war, we force the enemy to accept our view of the character of the war.

The man who shouts wins battles; the quiet man wins the war.

They borrowed a motto from the U.S. Army: "Amateurs discuss strategy; professionals discuss logistics"—in other words, the nuances of getting things done.

Sometimes," Llry told Rowan, "to feign an opening, is to invite your opponent's disaster.

Real strategists are warriors and must be willing and able to fight battles, to "see the elephant," as Civil War soldiers were fond of saying.

better than Sherman.

We advanced on the enemy with all the stealth of a circus.

The tactics used by the English in their warfare with the Indians crossed the foggy dividing line between strategic deception and outright immorality.

I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in

They hire smart attorneys and accountants, and persuade politicians to change laws or create legal loopholes.

Mathin said: It is best to take your opponent's sash. The kysin mark each blow dealt, but to cut off the other rider's sash is best. This you will do. Oh, said Harry. You may, if you wish, unhorse him first, Mathin added as an afterthought. Thanks, said Harry.

The decision on when to break off an attack, like the decision to launch it, is one requiring careful calculation and fine judgement. That said, Haig's judgement in fighting on into the early winter of 1916, when he could have stopped after Flers, is a clear error.

The fate of Sir John French, who had failed in the previous September at Loos - but had not lost anything like so many men in the process - cannot have passed unnoticed by General Haig in the autumn of 1916.

In all his battles, Haig never seems to have appreciated that there came a time when he had obtained or achieved all he could hope for and that to press on would either throw away his success to date or result in terrible losses.