#military

Can you imagine what Bush would say if someone like Hugo Chavez asked him for a little piece of land to install a military base, and he only wanted to plant a Venezuelan flag there? ↗

— Jose Saramago

#base #bush #chavez #flag #him

Perseverance is a virtue that cannot be understated. ↗

— Bob Riley

#away #budding #democracies #due #half

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory is won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory. ↗

— Sun Tzu

#military #war #art

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible, and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands. ↗

— Sun Tzu

#military-philosophy #art

You are not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and your life isn’t of much importance. Most of your orders will be unpleasant, but that’s not your business.They should’ve trained you for this, and not for flower-strewn streets. They should have built your soul with truth, not led along with lies. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#military #war #business

The Howeitat spread out along the cliffs to return the peasants' fire. This manner of going displeased Auda, the old lion, who raged that a mercenary village folk should dare to resist their secular masters, the Abu Tayi. So he jerked his halter, cantered his mare down the path, and rode out plain to view beneath the easternmost houses of the village. There he reined in, and shook a hand at them, booming in his wonderful voice: 'Dogs, do you not know Auda?' When they realized it was that implacable son of war their hearts failed them, and an hour later Sherif Nasir in the town-house was sipping tea with his guest the Turkish Governor, trying to console him for the sudden change of fortune. ↗

— T.E. Lawrence

#humourosly-inspirational #military-leaders #tribal #change

He committed the crime of stupidity while under my command," said Citizen. "Oh my," said Rigg. "They're handing out the death penalty for that these days? ↗

— Orson Scott Card

#military #death

Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy. ↗

— Sun Tzu

#empiricism #epistemology #military-philosophy #philosophy #war

What’s the difference? Fill a hundred pits with dead Northmen, congratulations, have a parade! Kill one man in the same uniform as you? A crime. A murder. Worse than despicable. Are we not all men? All blood and bone and dreams? ↗

— Joe Abercrombie

#heroes #military #war #dreams

I wanted that future officer to weigh decisions with a supple mind and to be comfortable with nuance and uncertainty. ↗

— Craig M. Mullaney

#dadt #history #military #philosophy #politics