There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.
This [a surprise attack] is an operation by no means to be despised in war, although it is rare, and less brilliant than a great strategic combination which renders victory certain even before the battle is fought.
To Sun-tzu and the ancient Chinese, doing something extraordinary had little effect without a setup of something ordinary. You had to mix the two - to fix your opponent's expectations with some banal, ordinary maneuver, a comfortable pattern that they would then expect you to follow.
Surprise becomes effective when we suddenly face the enemy at one point with far more troops than he expected. This type of numerical superiority is quite distinct from numerical superiority in general: it is the most powerful medium in the art of war.
Chief of security : They have a tank! How did they get a tank up here?
How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?' Rand Whispered. 'The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.
It is often possible to decide the issue of a battle merely by making an unexpected shift of one's main weight.
They don't respect us, so let's surprise them, we'll drop the big one, pulverize them.
The most effective indirect approach is one that lures or startles the opponent into a false move - so that, as in ju-jitsu, his own effort is turned into the lever of his overthrow.
I know that some people believe Winston Churchill, magnanimity in victory. I've always believed magnanimity in defeat and then sneak up on 'em when they're not looking when you fire back. That's what I've always - magnanimity.
When you have beaten guys a few times, you don't want them to think they know how you are going to play them. You have to try and find different ways of beating them. You have to do things they don't expect sometimes, put something unpredictable into your game.
To surprise the enemy is to defeat him.
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
The world's best swordsman doesn't fear the second best; he fears the worst swordsman, because he can't predict what the idiot will do.
The Battle of Koom Valley is the only one known to history where both sides ambushed each other.
By doing what our assailant least expects us to do, we may throw him completely off. ... what he usually least suspects is instant, violent counterattack, so the principle of aggressiveness is closely tied to threat of surprise.
To make a war, sometimes it is necessary that everyone guess wrong.
I don't know, unless you disagree with me, wouldn't it be better, if we were going to go after Mosul, to not say anything and do it as opposed to announcing? They're announcing all over television they're planning to attack Mosul.
Can there be allowed - are we allowed to have any more in the military, General, the element of surprise? You know, I would think it would be a good thing. It's called an ancient strength and we don't use it anymore.
All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.
When you have a guy that each week you can change up your game plan a little bit depending on what an offense does - you can put him at nickel, you can put him at linebacker position, Will or Sam or whatever they have him doing, he can create a matchup that the offense is not ready for.
It's a great thing to be underestimated because it puts off your rival or enemy - they're not on their full game if they underestimate you.
We were super successful under Mark Sampson because teams didn't expect us to play the way we played. We were so direct and played to people's strengths.
Bishops move diagonally. That's why they often turn up where the kings don't expect them to be.
