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Be careful not to fall in love with the power that deception brings; the use of it must always be subordinate to your overall strategy and kept under control.
nothing stays unconventional for long. It is either innovate or die.
the ordinary and the extraordinary are effective only if they play off each other in a constant spiraling manner.
an enemy that is caught by surprise loses its discipline and sense of security.
Chaos—where brilliant dreams are born.
there is a greater price to pay for slavishly conforming: we lose the power that comes from our individuality, from a way of doing things that is authentically our own.
The way to be truly unorthodox is to imitate no one, to fight and operate according to your own rhythms, adapting strategies to your idiosyncrasies, not the other way around.
I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.
It is when the tide is against us that we must forget the books, the precedents, the conventional wisdom, and risk everything on the untried and unexpected.
Aim at the soft spots in their public image, exposing any hypocrisies on their part. Never assume that the justice of your cause is self-evident; publicize and promote it.
Learn to inflict guilt as a moral weapon.
When your enemies try to present themselves as more justified than you are, and therefore more moral, you must see this move for what it most often is: not a reflection of morality, of right and wrong, but a clever strategy, an exterior maneuver.
Make your language and distinctions of good and evil as strong as possible; speak in terms of black and white. It is hard to get people to fight for a gray area.
enemies who trumpet certain values as inherent to their side yet who do not always adhere to those values in reality make juicy targets.
If you are physically and militarily weaker than your enemy, all the more reason to mount an exterior maneuver. Move the battle to the moral terrain, where you can hamstring and beat a stronger foe.
morality is often just a cover for the desire for more territory, more riches, more power.
Secure a good name for yourself and give the enemy a bad name; proclaim your righteousness and reveal the unrighteousness of the enemy.
It is human nature to not be able to endure any kind of void. We hate silence, long stretches of inactivity, loneliness.
the guerrilla approach was not so much a coherent strategy as a style.
mobile, dimensional, and abstract.
It is especially effective, for instance, against an opponent who is aggressive yet clever—a
guerrilla warriors generally need an opponent that is large, slow-footed, and with bullying tendencies.
In most conflicts time is a danger, bringing Murphy’s Law into play: if anything can go wrong, it will. If your army is small and relatively self-sufficient, though, there is less to go wrong, and meanwhile you are working to make sure that for the enemy the passage of time is a nightmare.
The essence of guerrilla warfare is fluidity.
Your goal is maximum disorder and unfamiliarity. Remember: this war is psychological.
Anything that has form can be overcome; anything that takes shape can be countered. This is why sages conceal their forms in nothingness and let their minds soar in the void.
quality is more important than quantity. Having numerous allies increases the chances we will become entangled in other people’s wars.
It is in any case a mistake to become dependent on one person.
the perfect allies are those who give you something you cannot get on your own.
A family has a kind of group ego and an interlocking emotional network; it requires a great deal of effort and practice to establish autonomy outside this system.
The alliances that will help you most are those involving mutual self-interest.
If you are weak but clever, you can slowly leapfrog into a position of strength by bouncing from one alliance to another.
you can maintain power in this central position only by keeping yourself unentangled and courted by all.
If you are seen to have benefited others in the past and as capable of doing the same in the present, you will have suitors and playing partners. Besides, you are loyal and generous, as long as there is mutual need. And when you show that you cannot be had by the false lure of permanent loyalty and friendship, you will actually find yourself treated with greater respect.
If the benefits seem vague or hard to realize, think twice about joining forces.
your rivals harbor the seeds of their own self-destruction, and second, a rival who is made to feel defensive and inferior, however subtly, will tend to act defensive and inferior, to his or her detriment.
Your goal is not to challenge them blatantly, though, but to get under their skin: they feel attacked but are not sure why or how.
To win without your victim’s knowing how it happened or just what you have done is the height of unconventional warfare.
Never interfere with an enemy that is in the process of committing suicide. —Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
many servants are masters at putting their employers one-down.
If you seem too ambitious, you stir up resentment in other people;
Stay under the radar and they won’t see your moves.
The truth is that most people are conservative by nature. Desperate to keep what they have, they dread the unforeseen consequences and situations that conflict inevitably brings. They hate confrontation and try to avoid it.
attention spans. The key to the fait accompli strategy is to act fast and without discussion. If you reveal your intentions before taking action, you will open yourself to a slew of criticisms, analyses, and questions:
that we have great dreams and ambitions. Caught up in the emotions of our dreams and the vastness of our desires, we find it very difficult to focus on the small, tedious steps usually necessary to attain them.
But in the social world as in nature, anything of size and stability grows slowly.
There is nothing more therapeutic than action.
To gain control of any project, you must be willing to make time your ally.
to really alter their behavior, you must alter their experience, aim at their emotions, inject unforgettable images into their minds, shake them up.
In war almost everything is judged by its result.
