One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
George R. R. MartinRead
Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Keeping your enemies in doubt can give you an advantage in conflict or competition.
This quote highlights the strategic value of uncertainty in relationships with adversaries. By maintaining ambiguity about your intentions and actions, you can keep your opponents off balance, preventing them from making informed decisions and thereby increasing your chances of success in a competitive environment.
Themes
StrategyDeceptionAdvantageUncertaintyCompetition
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a business negotiation to emphasize the importance of unpredictability.
More from George R. R. Martin
All quotes βI hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring.
George R. R. MartinRead
There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: βNot today.
George R. R. MartinRead
I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had.β He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. βI wish I had enough poison for you all. You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. I am innocent, but I will get no justice here.
George R. R. MartinRead
But a voice inside her whispered, There are no heroes, and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. 'Life is not a song, sweetling,' he'd told her, 'You may learn that one day to your sorrow.' In life, the monsters win, she told herself.
George R. R. MartinRead
I write from this tight third-person viewpoint, where each chapter is seen through the eyes of one individual character. When I'm writing that character, I become that character and identify with that character.
George R. R. MartinRead
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