Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Quickness is the essence of the war.
Interpretation
In war, speed and decisiveness are fundamental to achieving victory.
This quote by Sun Tzu emphasizes the critical importance of quick decision-making and rapid action in the context of warfare. It suggests that in any competitive environment, including business or strategic endeavors, the ability to move swiftly can determine the outcome and effectiveness of one's efforts.
In practice
This quote can be used in a leadership seminar to highlight the importance of quick decision-making.
Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Great results, can be achieved with small forces.
To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it.
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees.
To every man his little cross. Till he dies. And is forgotten.
Of all the islands he'd visited, two stood out. The island of the past, he said, where the only time was past time and the inhabitants were bored and more or less happy, but where the weight of illusion was so great that the island sank a little deeper into the river every day. And the island of the future, where the only time was the future, and the inhabitants were planners and strivers, such strivers, said Ulises, that they were likely to end up devouring one another.
I think I give the impression of being a romantic, and I think inside I'm quite severe. But some might say they had the opposite impression of me.
Two polar groups: at one pole we have the literary intellectuals, at the other scientists, and as the most representative, the physical scientists. Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension.
The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city.
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