Brian J. Smith Quotes

The female loves to play man against man. And if she is in a position to do it, there is not one who will resist.

We've got to fool the fools, and plan the plans. We must rule the rules, got to stand the stands.

As readers, we sense when the game is being played for real and when something else is afoot: pride, showmanship, the pursuit of power, self-aggrandizement, revenge, making money. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, but I dislike closing a book with the sense that I've been had.

Tactics are manipulative.

For me, it works to my advantage when people think I'm stupid. If somebody who disdains you or wants to control you underestimates you, you can play their game right back.

I'm very good at manipulation.

Took awhile, got the jokers out of the deck now, I'm holdin all the cards and niggas wanna play chess now

The world is a chessboard, Madam, on which we play out our ploys and follies. You are the Queen, of course. Your moves are the strongest. For myself, I claim only to be a knight, advancing in a crooked progress. Do we move ourselves, do you think, or does a great gloved hand place on our squares

When a magician lets you notice something on your own, his lie becomes impenetrable.

Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.

A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat without having his neighbor notice it.

The weak in courage is strong in cunning.

There's no way the writing staff of 'Game of Thrones' haven't read 'The Art of War.' There's definitely an influence on 'Game of Thrones' from this book in both a general way and on the character of Lord Baelish and his strategies.

Scarlett O'Hara didn't think she was manipulating. That's just the way she got what she wanted.

Realize that the game of life is the game of, to some extent, being taken advantage of by people who make a science of it. Whether they are in government or personal life or in business, they're everywhere.

Are you trying to manipulate me? It's working.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous.

All warfare is based on deception.

I'm pretty calculating. I take stuff that I know appeals to people's bad sides and match it up with stuff that appeals to their good sides.

Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.

In conspiracies, men who know what they wanted commonly ended by controlling the men who did not.

I invented the low blow. I can outdemagogue the best of demagogues.

If he is reelected, I can keep him in ignorance of my affairs.

I know what Hitler is up to. He thinks he has outsmarted me, but actually it is I who have outsmarted him.