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Niccolò Machiavelli

men ought either to be well treated or crushed

Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.

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Niccolò Machiavelli

wars don’t just go away, they are only postponed to someone else’s advantage.

The Romans never allowed a trouble spot to remain simply to avoid going to war over it, because they knew that wars don’t just go away, they are only postponed to someone else’s advantage.

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Terry Pratchett

Bishops move diagonally. That’s why they often turn up where the kings don’t expect them to be.

Bishops move diagonally. That’s why they often turn up where the kings don’t expect them to be.

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Dwight MacDonald

Can one imagine that The Bomb could ever be used “in a good cause”?

Can one imagine that The Bomb could ever be used “in a good cause”? Do not such means instantly, of themselves, corrupt any cause? The bomb is the natural product of the kind of society we have created. It is as easy, normal, and unforced an expression of the American way of Life as electric ice-boxes, banana splits, and hydro-matic drive automobiles.

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Henry Kissinger

We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one.

We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape — to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance.

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Colin Powell

First, we’re going to cut it off, then we’re going to kill it.

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.

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Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.

Scotty: The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.