Star Wars: Thrawn

by Timothy Zahn

do not need their permission to protect them, Your Majesty. Nor do I expect their thanks.”

The first lesson of card games is that the cards cannot be played in random order. Only when laid down properly can victory be achieved.

“Sometimes walking into a trap is the best strategy,” Thrawn said. “There are few traps that cannot be turned against their designers.

“But mutual destruction is never the preferred option.”

Failure to act always brings consequences.

“Uncertainties are often useful in paralyzing an opponent’s plans and actions,” Thrawn said.

“Sometimes a commander’s decisions must be made without regard for how they will be perceived,” Thrawn said. “What matters is that the commander does what is necessary for victory.”

the best path didn’t have to be quick as long as it was correct.

“But what is remembered says a great deal about those doing the remembering.”

Not every change is a step forward.

“A warrior does not threaten an enemy with an unloaded weapon unless he has no other choice.”

“Some people will not respond to reason. Others refuse to consider alternatives to their normal pattern of behavior. In such cases, an unexpected breaking of one’s own patterns can be an effective tool.

Leadership is a role and a task that should never be aspired to lightly.

In one way or another, all people wish for ultimate safety.

But ultimate safety does not exist. Those who trust in such will find that hope dashed upon the very rock behind which they seek to hide.

“It is never wrong to be curious. But it can sometimes be dangerous.

For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.