Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

To know in war how to recognize an opportunity and seize it is better than anything else.

Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!

If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

Sweat saves blood.

The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill.

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.

In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed.

We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporising ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.

The success of our surprise attack on Pearl Harbor will prove to be the Waterloo of the war to follow. For this reason the Imperial Navy is massing the cream of its strength in ships and planes to assure success.

Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.

By altering his arrangements and changing his plans, the skillful general keeps the enemy without definite knowledge. By shifting his camp and taking circuitous routes, he prevents the enemy from anticipating his purpose. At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him.

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

The art of war is to gain time when your strength is inferior.

Sometimes it has been of great moment while the fight is going on, to disseminate words that pronounce the enemies' captain to be dead, or to have been conquered by another part of the army. Many times this has given victory to him who used it.

There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.

He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance.

War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perserverance, by time, and by practice.

In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.

Opportunity in war is usually of greater value than bravery... Terrain is often of more value than bravery... Bravery is of more value than numbers.

In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.