Lee > Lee's Quotes

“Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake, Ensign?" 'No, sir.' "Anyone can make an error, Ensign. But that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.”
― Grand Admiral Thrawn

“It is said that one should keep one's allies within view, and one's enemies within reach.
A valid statement. One must be able to read an ally's strengths, so as to determine how to best use them. One must similarly be able to read his enemy's weaknesses, so as to determine how to best defeat him.
But what of friends?
There is no accepted answer, perhaps true friendship is so exceedingly rare. But I had formulated my own.
A friend need not be kept within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path. If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his present. For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.”
― Timothy Zahn, Thrawn

“There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil. A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them. He seeks only to obliterate them.”
― Timothy Zahn, Thrawn

“A great tactician creates plans. A good tactician recognizes the soundness of a plan presented on him. A fair tactician must see the plan succeed before offering approval.
Those with no tactical ability at all may never understand or accept it. Nor will such people understand or accept the tactician. To those without that ability, those who posses it are a mystery.
And when a mind is too deficient in understanding, the resulting gap is often filled with with resentment.”
― Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: Thrawn

“No battle plan can anticipate all contingencies. There are always unexpected factors including those stemming from the opponent's initiative. A battle must thus becomes a balance between plan and improvisation, between error and correction.
It is a narrow line. But it is a line one's opponent must also walk. For all the balance of experience and cleverness, it is often the warrior who acts quickest who will prevail.”
― Timothy Zahn, Thrawn

“Deliver my soul from the sword; my love from the power of the dog. Psalms 22:20”
― Don Winslow, The Power of the Dog