Joe Abercrombie Quotes

Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.

The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch'ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.

Action in war is like movement in a resistant element. Just as the simplest and most natural of movements, walking, cannot easily be performed in water, so in war, it is difficult for normal efforts to achieve even moderate results.

If you want an expert on war, you get a retired general. I'm not exactly a general, but I am retired.

The consensus seemed to be that if really large numbers of men were sent to storm the mountain, then enough might survive the rocks to take the citadel. This is essentially the basis of all military thinking.

One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything.

It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, defend against them; if weaker, be able to avoid them.

Councils of War never fight.

We hoped to land a wild cat that would tear out the bowels of the Boche. Instead we have stranded a vast whale with its tail flopping about in the water.

War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory.

Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. The difficulties accumulate and end by producing a kind of friction that is inconceivable unless one has experienced war. ... Countless minor incidents - the kind you can never really foresee - combine to lower the general level of performance, so that one always falls short of the intended goal.

Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.

The professional military mind is by necessity an inferior and unimaginative mind; no man of high intellectual quality would willingly imprison his gifts in such a calling.

The military weapon is but one of the means that serve the purposes of war: one out of the assortment which grand strategy can employ.

President Bush said the other day the war is not about timetables. It's about winning. Hey, it worked in Florida.

In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

The affairs of war, like the destiny of battles, as well as empires, hang upon a spiders thread.

If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory.

Wars are to be won with swords and spears, not with rice and salt.

According to my assessment, even if you have many more troops than others, how can that help you to victory?

The admiral needs only one science, that of navigation. The general needs all the sciences.

There is no shadow of protection to be had by sheltering behind the slender stockades of visionary speculation, or by hiding behind the wagon-wheels of pacific theories.

All delays are dangerous in war.