No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. Not when the enemy is me.
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This includes a common paraphrase of a statement which originates with military strategist Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke: "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force."Lois McMaster Bujold
» Lois McMaster Bujold - all quotes »
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
Helmuth von Moltke
Well, is he [bin Laden] the enemy? Next slide. Or is this man [Saddam] the enemy? The enemy is none of these people I have showed you here. The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He’s called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan.”
William G. Boykin
We are going for the enemy's fortifications. Artillery is doing its share in every phase of the battle. Automatic weapons are so extensively used to-day that we cannot possibly limit our operation to silencing enemy gun emplacements. Drive them underground? No, we have to wipe them out! The artillerymen can no longer be guided merely by orders for the infantry. It is waging battle in its own right.
Leonid Govorov
"To know the times" means to know the enemy's disposition in battle. Is is flourishing or waning? By observing the spirit of the enemy's men and getting the best position, you can work out the enemy's disposition and move your men accordingly.
Miyamoto Musashi
The battle is approaching its end. Since the enemy’s landing, even the gods would weep at the bravery of the officers and men under my command. ... [My] men died one by one, and I regret very much that I have allowed the enemy to occupy a piece of Japanese territory.
Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Bujold, Lois McMaster
Bukharin, Nikolai
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