As quoted in Waging Business Warfare (1988) David J. Rogers, p. 236
“My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.”
Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) French soldier and military theorist
Mon centre cède, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.
Message to Marshal Joseph Joffre during the First Battle of the Marne (8 September 1914), as quoted in Foch : Le Vainqueur de la Guerre (1919) by Raymond Recouly, Ch. 6
Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister
"Humiliated Putin scrambles to save face as Sweden and Finland join NATO: Russian leader says countries 'can join whatever they like' - and attacks the bloc's 'imperialist ambitions'" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10967023/Putin-insists-DOESNT-care-Finland-Sweden-join-NATO-denied-bombing-Ukrainian-mall.html, Daily Mail, 29 June 2022 <br class="br">2020s, On conducting a "special military operation" in Ukraine (24 February 2022)
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
The Philosophy of Paine (1925)
Context: The memory of Tom Paine will outlive all this. No man who helped to lay the foundations of our liberty — who stepped forth as the champion of so difficult a cause — can be permanently obscured by such attacks. Tom Paine should be read by his countrymen. I commend his fame to their hands.
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack (1967)
“The dove loves even when it attacks; the wolf hates even when it flatters.”
Columba amat et quando caedit. Lupus odit et quando blanditur.
Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher
64
Sermons
“One defends when his strength is inadequate; he attacks when it is abundant.”
Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty
Source: The Art of War, Chapter IV · Disposition of the Army
“When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.”
Edward Abbey book The Monkey Wrench Gang
page 294
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
Variant: He recalled Dr. Sarvis' favorite apothegm: When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.
Source: The Monkey Wrench Gang
Angelina Jolie (1975) American actress, film director, and screenwriter
"Jolie shocked by Madonna attacks" Reuters report, via CNN.com (8 January 2007) http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/08/jolie.madonna.reut/index.html
