Skillful Quotes - Page 6

Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

Sun Tzu

Art, War, Fighting

Sun Tzu, Julius Caesar, Einhard, Niccolò Machiavelli, Carl von Clausewitz (2016). “Strategy Six Pack”, p.11, Lulu.com

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A prudent man... must behave like those archers who, if they are skillful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art, War, Archer

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By altering his arrangements and changing his plans, the skillful general keeps the enemy without definite knowledge. By shifting his camp and taking circuitous routes, he prevents the enemy from anticipating his purpose. At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him.

Sun Tzu

Art, War, Army

James Clavell, Sun Tzu (2013). “The Art of War”, p.52, Hachette UK

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The best architects feel it to be their duty to make the path to the hole as free as possible from annoying difficulties for the less skillful golfers, while at the same time presenting to the scratch players a route calling for the best shots at their command.

Robert Hunter

Golf, Player, Scratches

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You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

Sun Tzu

Art Of War, Safety, Doe

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The Trilateralist Commission is international...(and)...is intended to be the vehicle for multinational consolidation of the commercial and banking interests by seizing control of the political government of the United States. The Trilateralist Commission represents a skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power - political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical.

Barry Goldwater

Order, Nwo, World Government

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Ah, how skillful grows the hand
That obeyeth Love's command!
It is the heart, and not the brain,
That to the highest doth attain,
And he who followeth Love's behest
Far excelleth all the rest!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Life, Heart, Hands

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867). “The Poetical Works of H. W. Longfellow. Complete Edition”, p.127

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That politician who curries favor with the citizens and indulges them and fawns upon them and has a presentiment of their wishes, and is skillful in gratifying them, he is esteemed a great statesman.

Plato

Political, Wish, Citizens

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A man is skillful at woodraft just in proportion as he approaches this balance. Knowing the wilderness can be comfortable when a less experienced man would endure hardship. Conversely, if a man endures hardships where a woodsman could be comfortable, it argues not his toughness, but his ignorance or foolishness, which is exactly the case with our blatant friend of the drawing-room reputation.

Stewart Edward White

Ignorance, Men, Drawing

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Ships are to little purpose without skillful Sea Men.

Richard Hakluyt

Men, Sea, Purpose

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Between the amateur and the professional . . . there is a difference not only in degree but in kind. The skillful man is, within the function of his skill, a different psychological organization. . . . A tennis player or a watchmaker or an airplane pilot is an automatism but he is also criticism and wisdom.

Bernard DeVoto

Wisdom, Airplane, Player

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There is in every child a painstaking teacher so skillful that he obtains identical results in all children in all parts of the world. The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one teaches them anything.

Maria Montessori

Teacher, Children, Learning

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You promised you wouldn't tell her," she says, pointing at me. "What happened to protecting her?" "I changed my mind," I say. Tris laughs, harshly,"That's what you told him, that he would be protecting me? That's a pretty skillful manipulation. Well done.

Veronica Roth

Protecting Her, Laughing, Mind

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The more truthful I am with myself and others, the more my conscience is clear and tranquil. Thus, I can more thoroughly and unequivocally inhabit the present moment and accept everything that happens without fear, knowing that what goes around comes around (the law of karma). Ethical morality and self-discipline represent the good ground, or stable basis. Mindful awareness is the skillful and efficacious grow-path, or way. Wisdom and compassion constitute the fruit, or result. This is the essence of Buddhism [...]

Surya Das

Karma, Buddhism, Compassion

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A skillful playwright might have a good time with the story of the assassination of President William McKinley, and especially with the three most flamboyant political figures involved: Mark Hanna, Theodore Roosevelt, and Emma Goldman.

Russell Baker

Political, President, Stories

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The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

Epictetus

Positive, Encouraging, Uplifting

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Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.

Epicurus

Philosophical, Hard Times, Skills

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When I found Jesus Christ, I learned to be a better athlete. I didn't have to go out there and knock them out in the first round. I've learned to be patient, skillful in the ring. At the same time, I wanted to prove to other boxers that you can take off this killer instinct stuff, you can be a great athlete, a great boxer, and love your brother.

George Foreman

Jesus, Brother, Athlete

"George Foreman: Giving Life an Extra Punch". Interview with Scott Ross, www.cbn.com.

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Maybe the Dalai Lama is the only person who is totally honest, and even with him, he's skillful not to hurt anybody. He's skillful.

Richard Gere

Hurt, Honest, Lama

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No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.

Edward Hopper

Art, Aquariums, Imagination

Edward Hopper, Hayward Gallery, Whitney Museum of American Art (1981). “Edward Hopper, 1882-1967: Hayward Gallery, London, 11 February to 29 March 1981 : a selection from the exhibition Edward Hopper, the art and the artist held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York from 16 September 1980 to 25 January 1981”

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History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.

Daisaku Ikeda

War, Differences, Community

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I was with this girl the other night and from the way she was responding to my skillful caresses, you would have sworn that she was conscious from the top of her head to the tag on her toes.

Emo Philips

Funny, Girl, Humor

YouTube Channel "zappbrannigan"/"Emo Philips - 1983 (part 1 of 2)", www.youtube.com. October 15, 2007.

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I know how easy it is for one to stay well within moral, ethical, and legal bounds through the skillful use of words - and to thereby spin, sidestep, circumvent, or bend a truth completely out of shape. To that extent, we are all liars on numerous occasions.

Sidney Poitier

Liars, Use, Shapes

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Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

Harry S. Truman

Change, Leadership, Men

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Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.

Miyamoto Musashi

People, Doe, Way

Miyamoto Musashi, Victor Harris (2007). “A Book of Five Rings: With the Unfettered Mind”

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