Robert Jordan Quotes

To surprise the enemy is to defeat him.

You cannot tell the enemy you're going to leave and expect the enemy to not - and expect to succeed. I mean, that's just a fundamental of warfare.

Kill every enemy twice, Wilky said. Better than gettin' shot by a soldier pretending to be dead.

This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair. After that, you may crush him.

A wise general makes a point of foraging of the enemy.

Attack the enemy's strategy.

If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

I don't believe in deadlines, I don't believe in telling the enemy when we're going to withdraw.

I'm not a fan almost anywhere of announcing to the enemy of what I'm going to do.

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.

You want to keep the defense guessing.

Should the enemy forestall you in occupying a pass, do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned, but only if it is weakly garrisoned.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it.

If we consider my latest book, Strategie de la deception, what we need to focus on are the other aspects of the same phenomenon.

The surprise of an army is now next to an impossibility. ... Prearranged surprises are rare and difficult because in order to plan one it becomes necessary to have an accurate knowledge of the enemy's camp.

In strategy the longest way round is often the shortest way there- a direct approach to the object exhausts the attacker and hardens the resistance by compression, whereas an indirect approach loosens the defender's hold by upsetting his balance.

This is your sword. You press the pointy end into the enemy. Try not to let him make eye contact with you and remember, he spits invisible poison. (Thorn)

From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.

I keep my enemies close/ I give 'em enough rope/ They put themselves in the air/ I just kick away the chair.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

The fourth rule is: "Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules." You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.

As almost anyone with war experience knows, you're never supposed to show the enemy what you won't do to win.