Strategic Sacrifice Quotes

If you want to take the island, then burn your boats. With absolute commitment come the insights that create real victory.

I do not believe for a moment that, at the end of this war [WWI], even if we stand aside, we should be able to undo what had happened … to prevent the whole of the West of Europe opposite us from falling under the domination of a single power … and we should, I believe, sacrifice our respect and good name and reputation before the world and should not escape the most serious and grave consequences.

Let us sacrifice one day to gain perhaps a whole life.

If you sacrifice early, you'll win late.

Most men expose themselves in battle enough to save their honor, few wish to do so more than sufficiently, or than is necessary to make the design for which they expose themselves succeed.

Gains achieved at great cost against our enemy in Afghanistan are reversible.

Spying is a like a game of chess: Sometimes you have to withdraw, sometimes you have to sacrifice one of your pieces to win - preferably a knight rather than a king or queen.

I lost a lot of territory I really enjoyed having, but there was no doubt I had to do it to help Democrats.

There are definitely times when taking a sack is a better play than doing something else and trying to make a play when something is not there.

I think death is the aesthetic part of chess, seeing your opponent's army fall. Producing a sacrifice in order to mate is the aesthetic part of it. It's a beautiful, bloodless war.

To get squares you have to give up squares.

Haven't you ever played Uno?... Sometimes you have to lose all your cards to win.

Building a career or a company is about living a few years of your life like most people won't so that you can spend the rest of your life living at a level most people can't.

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

We want to go in for suffering, and there may be torture. If we put the women in front the Government may hesitate to inflict on us all the penalty that they might otherwise inflict.

Be willing to lose a battle in order to win the war.

It was a defeat, resorting to crude threats in a game of subtlety, but sometimes one must sacrifice a battle to win the war.

We've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general election.

I do not see why I should be called upon to run the risk of absolute disaster in order a second time around to save them [the French army].

If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve.

Let our friends perish, provided that our enemies fall at the same time.

The king just sits there, moving one square at a time. The queen can move so freely. I suppose I’d rather lose the game than forfeit her freedom.