“The elephants fight but the rats go about their business.”
Source: River of Gods (2006), Ch. 44 (p. 458).
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Ian McDonald 30
British science fiction novelist 1960Related quotes

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

“one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap”

“War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight.”
As quoted in Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War (1904) by George Francis Robert Henderson http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12233, Ch. 25 : The Soldier and the Man, p. 481
Context: War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to throw up breastworks, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end. To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.

“A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”
Source: The Handmaid's Tale

After the Cooney fight, as quoted in "Sport: Larry Holmes: I Still Have It" by Tom Callahan in TIME (21 June 1982) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925485-3,00.html.