Alexander Soltis > Alexander's Quotes

“Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”
― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Great art is horseshit, buy tacos.”
― Charles Bukowski

“Don't be a hero, young man. There's no percentage in it.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”
― Charles Bukowski and Carl Weissner

“I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness; a kind of non-being, and I accepted it. I didn't make for an interesting person. I didn't want to be interesting, it was too hard. What I really wanted was only a soft, hazy space to live in, and to be left alone.”
― Charles Bukowski

“My policy has always been to burn my bridges behind me. My face is always set toward the future. If I make a mistake it is fatal. When I am flung back I fall all the way back—to the very bottom. My one safeguard is my resiliency. So far I have always bounced back.”
― Henry Miller, Sexus: The Rosy Crucifixion I