“It was the same with the whole Russian machine. Fear was the impulse. For them it was always safer to advance than retreat. Advance against the enemy and the bullet might miss you. Retreat, evade, betray and the bullet would never miss.”

“We're not retreating, we're advancing in reverse.' --Skulduggery Pleasant”

“Woman begins by resisting a man's advances and ends by blocking his retreat.”

“The theist and the scientist are rival interpreters of nature, the one retreats as the other advances.”

“There was once a big atomic bomb
That wanted to be a bullet.
His friends all asked why, when he was such a big atomic bomb, he would want to be a tiny bullet.
"I miss", he sighed, "the personal touch.”

“Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have. The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, it results in confusion, fear, and retreat. […] The third rule is: Whenever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.”

“If the Russians retreat, they are done.”

“There was a look of woe on his face that was almost comical. Raids, bullets, criminals… no problem. A missing duster? Crisis.”

“If I advance; follow me! If I retreat; kill me! If I die; avenge me!”

“If there is something more in a living being than a pure mechanism, Descartes is bound in advance to miss it.”