“Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."”

— Plutarch

47 Pyrrhus
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

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Plutarch 251

ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46–127

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“Narrated Abu Musa: A man came to the Prophet and asked, "A man fights for war booty; another fights for fame and a third fights for showing off; which of them fights in Allah's Cause?" The Prophet said, "He who fights that Allah's Word (i. e. Islam) should be superior, fights in Allah's Cause."”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Chain of transmission: Sulayman ibn Harb ⟶ Shu'ba ⟶ Amr ⟶ Abu Wael ⟶ Abu Musa note: Note 1: the translation was published by the Islamic University of Madinah and many have associated the university with the Wahhabi Salafi ideology, and have stated it has exported Salafi-inclined theologians around the world. The chain of transmission are not present in the translation and the content inside parentheses are commentaries by the translator not present in the Arabic text. note: Note 2: "Allah's Word" (Arabic: كَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ; kalimat Allāh) could refer to the concept of the logos. The word "aleulya" (الْعُلْيَا) can also be translated as "highest". note: Sunni Hadith
Original: (ar) حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ عَمْرٍو، عَنْ أَبِي وَائِلٍ، عَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ يُقَاتِلُ لِلْمَغْنَمِ، وَالرَّجُلُ يُقَاتِلُ لِلذِّكْرِ، وَالرَّجُلُ يُقَاتِلُ لِيُرَى مَكَانُهُ، فَمَنْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ قَالَ ‏ "‏ مَنْ قَاتَلَ لِتَكُونَ كَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا فَهُوَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ‏"‏‏.‏
Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, compiled by Muhammad al-Bukhari. Translated into English by Muhammad Muhsin Khan in The Translation of the Meanings Of Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 65 https://archive.org/stream/nabeel_Vol1_201703/Vol%204#page/n120/mode/1up, 1971. The Arabic text used for this work is from Fath Al-Bari, a multi-volume commentary on the Sunni hadith collection Sahih al-Bukhari, composed by Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani in the 15th century, published by the Egyptian Press of Mustafa Al-Babi Al-Halabi in 1959.

“Hamilcar also told Hannibal about elephants and how you must always have plenty of these animals to scare the enemy. He attributed much of his own success to elephants and believed they would have won the First Punic War for him if things hadn't gone slightly haywire; for the war had turned into a naval affair. But even when the fighting was on land, the Romans did not scare nearly so well as expected. The Romans had learned about elephants while fighting Pyrrhus, whose elephants defeated him in 275 B. C., and even before that, in Alexander's time, King Porus had been undone by his own elephants. Thus, if history had taught any one thing up to that time, it was never to use elephants in war.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part II: Ancient Greeks and Worse, Hannibal

“My dear little man," said the dragon solemnly, "just understand, once for all, that I can't fight and I won't fight. I've never fought in my life, and I'm not going to begin now, just to give you a Roman holiday. In old days I always let the other fellows — the earnest fellows — do all the fighting, and no doubt that's why I have the pleasure of being here now.”

Kenneth Grahame book The Reluctant Dragon

The dragon to the Boy.
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“It is not inconceivable that human civilisation should be permanently overcome by such evil men and evil things, and I feel proud that the British Empire, though left to fight alone, still stands across their path, unconquered and unconquerable.”

Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Last broadcast (11 October 1940), quoted in Keith Feiling, Neville Chamberlain (London: Macmillan, 1946), p. 454.
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“I said, “I am a soldier, grown old and tired and confused. I have been fighting since before you were born. And I have yet to see anything gained.””

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Source: The White Rose (1985), Chapter 12, “The Plain of Fear” (p. 506)

“An immense amount, enough to fill many books, has already been written on the subject [of the Barcelona fighting], and I do not suppose I should exaggerate if I said that nine-tenths of it is untruthful.”

George Orwell book Homage to Catalonia

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“Fight like a man. Habit is overcome by habit.”

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“I am convinced that knowledge is power - to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better decisions.”

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“Men fight when they should run, and fools fight when they should run. But I had no need to say it twice.”

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Faile Bashere
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“Upon reaching a place of safety, the Indians held a council. They had been defeated in their long expected great battle. The "long knives" were pressing on. Cornstalk enquired, what should be done. No one spoke. After a solemn pause, Cornstalk arose. "We must fight, or we are undone. Let us kill our women and children, and go and fight till we die." He sat down. After a long pause, he rose again and striking his tomahawk into the council post, said — "Then I'll go and make peace."”

Cornstalk (1720–1777) Native American in the American Revolution

Rev. William Henry Foote, in Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical (1856), Ch. 12 : Cornstalk — and the Battle at Point Pleasant

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