Quotes about strategy
page 6

Richard Wright photo
Miyamoto Musashi photo

“The Way of strategy is the Way of nature. When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. All this is the Way of the Void. I intend to show how to follow the true Way according to nature in the book of the Void.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645)
Context: Fifthly, the book of the Void. By Void I mean that which has no beginning and no end. Attaining this principle means not attaining the principle. The Way of strategy is the Way of nature. When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. All this is the Way of the Void. I intend to show how to follow the true Way according to nature in the book of the Void.

Miyamoto Musashi photo

“To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Book No-Thing-ness
Context: To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.

Warren Buffett photo

“The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

"Buffett on Bridge" at Buffetcup.com (2013) http://archive.is/o4keX<!-- obsolete link — no longer posted at this page as of 2014·08·28: http://www.buffettcup.com/Default.aspx?tabid=69 // also quoted in "18 Reasons Why Wall Street Loves Bridge" by Lucas Kawa at Business Insider (1 January 2013) http://www.businessinsider.com/why-wall-street-plays-bridge-2012-12?op=1-->
Context: The approach and strategies are very similar in that you gather all the information you can and then keep adding to that base of information as things develop. You do whatever the probabilities indicated based on the knowledge that you have at that time, but you are always willing to modify your behaviour or your approach as you get new information. In bridge, you behave in a way that gets the best from your partner. And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees.

Glenn Gould photo

“The trouble begins when we start to be so impressed by the strategies of our systematized thought that we forget that it does relate to an obverse, that it is hewn from negation, that it is but very small security against the void of negation which surrounds it.”

Glenn Gould (1932–1982) Canadian pianist

Glenn Gould Reader p5
Context: The trouble begins when we start to be so impressed by the strategies of our systematized thought that we forget that it does relate to an obverse, that it is hewn from negation, that it is but very small security against the void of negation which surrounds it. And when that happens, when we forget these things, all sorts of mechanical failures begin to disrupt the functions of the human personality. When people who practice an art like music become captives of those positive assumptions of system, when they forget to credit that happening against negation which system is, and when they become disrespectful of the immensity of negation compared to system — then they put themselves out of reach of that replenishment of invention upon which creative ideas depend, because invention is, in fact, a cautious dipping into the negation that lies outside system from a position firmly ensconced in system.

Geoffrey Howe photo

“The well-being of the British people and the health of our economy are far more important than any government's commitment to a particular strategy, but to change course now would be fatal to the whole counter-inflation strategy.”

Geoffrey Howe (1926–2015) British Conservative politician

"Chancellor determined not to change course in the fight against inflation", The Times, 11 March 1981, p. 6.
1981 budget speech.

Ernest King photo

“In connection with the matter of command in the field, there is perhaps a popular misconception that the Army and the Navy were intermingled in a standard form of joint operational organization in every theater throughout the world. Actually, the situation was never the same in any two areas. For example, after General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower had completed his landing in Normandy, his operation became purely a land campaign. The Navy was responsible for maintaining the line of communications across the ocean and for certain supply operations in the ports of Europe, and small naval groups became part of the land army for certain special purposes, such as the boat groups which helped in the crossing of the Rhine. But the strategy and tactics of the great battles leading up to the surrender of Germany were primarily army affairs and no naval officer had anything directly to do with the command of this land campaign. A different situation existed in the Pacific, where, in the process of capturing small atolls, the fighting was almost entirely within range of naval gunfire; that is to say, the whole operation of capturing an atoll was amphibious in nature, with artillery and air-support primarily naval. This situation called for a mixed Army-Navy organization which was entrusted to the command of Fleet Admiral Nimitz. A still different situation existed in the early days of the war during the Solomon Islands campaign where Army and Navy became, of necessity, so thoroughly intermingled that they were, to all practical purposes, a single service directed by Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. Under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Army, Army Aviation, and the naval components of his command were separate entities tied together only at the top in the person of General MacArthur himself. In the Mediterranean the scheme of command differed somewhat from all the others.”

Ernest King (1878–1956) United States Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations

Third Report, p. 172
U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (1946)

Natalie Wynn photo

“I think that this is a piece of a strategy. Um, it’s not a whole strategy. And I certainly don’t claim to single-handedly achieve much on my own. I’m just dealing with opinions.”

ContraPoints, Miscellaneous, Contrapoints Is De-Radicalizing Young, Right-Wing Men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nrz4-FZx6k (Vice News, 2019)

Theodor Mommsen photo
Vivek Agnihotri photo

“Their strategy was simple. Moral domination. Nehru was a thinker. But Rajiv, Sonia, and Rahul are no intellectuals. They took a different route. They redefined morality. Secularism included. Anti-Congress was new immoral. Pro-Hindu became anti-Muslim. India was morally polarized. Morality is subjective. No one can say with guarantee what is pure morality. Masses were forced to choose between moral standards (Secularism, unity in diversity, inclusive etc.) and quality of life (development). People who wanted quality of life were made to feel guilty. Hindus who wanted to celebrate their religious freedom were made to feel guilty. Muslims who wanted to be part of mainstream India were made to feel guilty. They filled India’s psyche with fear, hate and guilt. They hated all indigenous, grassroots thinkers. They hated Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, P.V. Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and now Modi. They are the land grabbers of Sainik Farms and Adarsh Societies of India. They run NGOs. They run media. They coin useless and irrelevant jargon to confuse the masses. They have designations but no real jobs. They are irrelevant NRIs who want us to see a reality which doesn’t exist. They want a plebiscite in Kashmir. They defend stone-pelters. They want Maoists to participate in mainstream politics. They want Tejpal to be freed. Yaqub to be pardoned. But they want Modi to be hanged. They are the hijackers of national morality. Secularism included. They are the robbers of Indian treasury. They are the brokers of power. They are the pimps of secularism. They are the Intellectual Mafia.”

Vivek Agnihotri (1973) director

Urban Naxals (2018)

Angela Davis photo
Carl Sagan photo
Michel Foucault photo

“By power… I do not understand a general system of domination exercised by one element or one group over another, whose effects… traverse the entire body social… It seems to me that first what needs to be understood is the multiplicity of relations of force that are immanent to the domain wherein they are exercised, and that are constitutive of its organization; the game that through incessant struggle and confrontation transforms them, reinforces them, inverts them; the supports these relations of force find in each other, so as to form a chain or system, or, on the other hand, the gaps, the contradictions that isolate them from each other; in the end, the strategies in which they take effect, and whose general pattern or institutional crystallization is embodied in the mechanisms of the state, in the formulation of the law, in social hegemonies. The condition of possibility of power… should not be sought in the primary existence of a central point, in a unique space of sovereignty whence would radiate derivative and descendent forms; it is the moving base of relations of force that incessantly induce, by their inequality, states of power, but always local and unstable. Omnipresence of power: not at all because it regroups everything under its invincible unity, but because it is produced at every instant, at every point, or moreover in every relation between one point and another. Power is everywhere: not that it engulfs everything, but that it comes from everywhere.”

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) French philosopher

Par pouvoir… je n’entends pas un système général de domination exercée par un élément ou un groupe sur un autre, et dont les effets, par dérivations successives, traversaient le corps social tout entier… il me semble qu’il faut comprendre d’abord la multiplicité de rapports de force qui sont immanents au domaine où ils s’exercent, et sont constitutifs de leur organisation ; le jeu qui par voie de luttes et d’affrontements incessants les transforme, les renforce, les inverse ; les appuis que ces rapports de force trouvent les uns dans les autres, de manière à former chaîne ou système, ou, au contraire, les décalages, les contradictions qui les isolent les uns des autres ; les stratégies enfin dans lesquelles ils prennent effet, et dont le dessin général ou la cristallisation institutionnelle prennent corps dans les appareils étatiques, dans la formulation de la loi, dans les hégémonies sociales. La condition de possibilité du pouvoir… il ne fait pas la chercher dans l’existence première d’un point central, dans un foyer unique de souveraineté d’où rayonneraient des formes dérivées et descendantes ; induisent sans cesse, par leur inégalité, des états de pouvoir, mais toujours locaux et instables. Omniprésence du pouvoir : non point parce qu’il aurait le privilège de tout regrouper sous son invincible unité, mais parce qu’il se produit à chaque instant, en tout point, ou plutôt dans toute relation d’un point à un autre. Le pouvoir est partout ; ce n’est pas qu’il englobe tout, c’est qu’il vient de partout.
Vol. I, p. 121-122.
History of Sexuality (1976–1984)

Noam Chomsky photo
Marilyn Ferguson photo
Donald Tusk photo
David Cameron photo
Theresa May photo
Jeremy Scahill photo
Richard Rumelt photo
Michael E. Porter photo

“Interview: Robert Heller: Alistair Schofield speaks to Robert Heller, journalist, commentator and the author of more than 50 books on management and business strategy.”

Robert Heller (1932–2012) British magician

2006
http://www.extensor.co.uk/articles/int_heller/interview_robert_heller.html online
Interview: Robert Heller (2006)

John Scalzi photo
Kay Bailey Hutchison photo

“Then came the dress, the tapes, and the Federal grand jury. The attempt to obstruct and cover-up grew, expanded, and developed a life of its own. It overpowered the underlying offense itself. A new strategy was required, fast: The President was advised: `Admit the sex, but never the lies.”

Kay Bailey Hutchison (1943) American politician

Shift the blame; change the subject. Blame it on the plaintiff in the Arkansas case. Blame it on her lawyers. Blame it on the Independent Counsel. Blame it on partisanship. Blame it on the majority members of the House Judiciary Committee. Blame it on the process.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's closed-door impeachment statement, CNN.com, CNN, February 12, 1999, 2007-07-21 http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/senate.statements/hutchison.html,

Miyamoto Musashi photo
Robert Greene photo
Robert Greene photo
Abdullah Öcalan photo

“In complex environments, individuals are not fully able to analyze the situation and calculate their optimal strategy. Instead they can be expected to adapt their strategy over time based upon what has been effective and what has not.”

Chap. 1 : Evolving New Strategies

Adapted from Robert Axelrod, “The Evolution of Strategies in the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma,” in Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing, ed. Lawrence Davis (London: Pitman; Los Altos, Calif.: Morgan Kaufman, 1987)
The Complexity of Cooperation (1997)

Joseph Weizenbaum photo
Peter F. Drucker photo

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

According to The Quote Investigator, this phrase first appeared on PIMA’s North American Papermaker: The Official Publication of the Paper Industry Management Association, in an article by Bill Moore and Jerry Rose. The year was 2000. Since then, the phrase has appeared many times. Peter Drucker died in 2005. The first time his name was associated to the citation was on 2011. Other occurrences and versions of the phrase can be found at https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/05/23/culture-eats/
Misattributed

Robert B. Reich photo

“If a nice strategy cannot be invaded by a single individual, it cannot be invaded by any cluster of individuals either.”

Chap. 3 : The Chronology of Cooperation
Proposition 7.
The Evolution of Cooperation (1984; 2006)

“The strategies which can invade ALL D in a cluster with the smallest value of p are those which are maximally discriminating, such as TIT FOR TAT.”

Chap. 3 : The Chronology of Cooperation
Proposition 6.
The Evolution of Cooperation (1984; 2006)

“For a nice strategy to be collectively stable, it must be provoked by the very first defection of the other player.”

Chap. 3 : The Chronology of Cooperation
Proposition 4.
The Evolution of Cooperation (1984; 2006)

“Any strategy which may be the first to cooperate can be collectively stable only when w is sufficiently large.”

Chap. 3 : The Chronology of Cooperation
Proposition 3.
The Evolution of Cooperation (1984; 2006)

“If the discount parameter, w, is sufficiently high, there is no best strategy independent of the strategy used by the other player.”

Chap. 1 : The Problem of Cooperation
Proposition 1.
The Evolution of Cooperation (1984; 2006)

Thomas Hylland Eriksen photo
China Miéville photo

“This was not the time for rage but for politics and strategy.”

The Tain (p. 252)
Short Fiction, Looking for Jake (2005)

Matt Taibbi photo

“What we call right-wing and liberal media in this country are really just two different strategies of the same kind of nihilistic lizard-brain sensationalism.”

Matt Taibbi (1970) author and journalist

America Is Too Dumb for TV News https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/america-is-too-dumb-for-tv-news-157274/, The Rolling Stones, Matt Taibbi, November 25, 2015

Bhanu Choudhrie photo

“Always look at the long-term opportunity. Take a business where you can see the long-term potential, then put in a management team you can trust to execute your strategy.”

"Bhanu Choudhrie – C & C Alpha Group" https://www.thewealthscene.com/business-leaders-entrepreneurs/bhanu-choudhrie-c-c-alpha-group/, The Wealth Scene (2018)

Joseph E. Stiglitz photo
Warren Farrell photo

“Flag football is so much more about strategy. You can’t ‘take someone out’ with your body, so it’s more about your mind.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 254

Dorothy Thompson photo

“I have seen a German youth camp, housing six thousand children around the age of ten, display in tree-high letters the words: ‘You were born to die for Germany!’ I have seen babies of six and seven, black-shirted and belted, march in Italy in military drill. I have seen children in Russia kindergartens taught how to adjust gas masks and the strategy of trench warfare.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 34-35

Daniel Abraham photo

“What you’re really doing is trying to win back what you’ve lost by going all in. It’s shitty poker, and even worse as a battle strategy.”

Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Source: The Expanse, Tiamat's Wrath (2019), Chapter 17 (pp. 178-179)

Isaac Mashman photo
Peter Singer photo

“Strategy can be defined as a coherent plan on how to overcome an obstacle with the limited resources that you have at hand.”

Julian Cole (1985) Strategy Consultant

https://www.irishtimes.com/advertising-feature/inside-marketing/mastering-strategy-crucial-for-business-success-1.4394295

“Strategy should never be an island unto itself, it functions best when fully integrated.”

Julian Cole (1985) Strategy Consultant

https://www.irishtimes.com/advertising-feature/inside-marketing/mastering-strategy-crucial-for-business-success-1.4394295

Miyamoto Musashi photo
Carlo Rovelli photo

“Policies and business strategies that worked well in the industrial era are a recipe for stagnation and decline in the new economy”

John Roth (1942) Canadian businessman

John Roth https://web.archive.org/web/20110523072731/http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/1225/poy_roth.html December 25, 2000

Bret Weinstein photo

“Strategies evolve within markets and their larger regulatory context.”

Bret Weinstein (1969) biologist, professor, public intellectual

The Personal Responsibility Vortex (April 16, 2012)

Liu Yandong photo

“China has always followed the path of peaceful development, pursued a mutually beneficial and win-win opening strategy, strengthened friendly exchanges with other countries, and actively fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations.”

Liu Yandong (1945) Chinese politician

Source: "刘延东出席第五届世界和平论坛开幕式并致辞" https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/celk//chn/zgxw/t1382124.htm (16 July 2017)

“The key to implementation is people. In a war, even you have a good fighting strategy, history tells us that having soldiers who are brave enough, with skills in shooting and fighting, is what makes the difference.”

Liu Chuanzhi (1944) Chinese businessman

Source: Lenovo Group’s Liu Chuanzhi on ‘Building a Healthy Company’ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/lenovo-groups-liu-chuanzhi-on-building-a-healthy-company/ in Knowledge @ Wharton (8 July 2009)

Scott Adams photo
Azali Assoumani photo

“By launching the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in our country today (10 April 2021), we are taking a new step in our strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. To set an example, I made a decision to be the first to take the vaccine.”

Azali Assoumani (1959) President of Comoros

Source: Azali Assoumani (2021) cited in: " Comoros president receives injection of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-04/10/c_139871604.htm" in Xinhuanet, 10 April 2021.

Brig. Gen. Eran Ortal photo

“The height of a strategy is also the beginning of its demise.”

DCJ # 35 Hebrew, OCT 21

Catherine Asaro photo

“Even if I knew ancient warfare, which I don’t, they probably have their own strategies here.”

“The strategy is the same everywhere,” she muttered. “Kill.”
Source: Saga of the Skolian Empire, Skyfall (2003), Chapter 11, “Warlords of the Snow” (p. 134)

Reza Torkzadeh photo

“Research. Trial strategy. Debate. As a lawyer, these are the complex areas in which you thrive. But when it comes to building a sustainable business, your education—and experience—can’t guarantee your success.”

Reza Torkzadeh Author and Lawyer

The Lawyer As CEO: Stay Competitive, Attract Better Talent, and Get Your Clients Results (While Building the Law Firm of the Future) (2022),

Garry Kasparov photo
Gary Locke photo

“Our higher education system has to be a part of the economic recovery strategy.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Interview with Former Governor Gary Locke" https://greater-seattle.com/en/2020/06/11/interview-with-former-governor-gary-locke/ (11 June 2020)

Aristotle photo
Max Barry photo
Teal Swan photo
Teal Swan photo
Teal Swan photo
Prevale photo

“Your existence will improve by associating only with people whose kindness, respect and correctness will be a lifestyle, not a strategy.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La vostra esistenza migliorerà frequentando solo persone la cui gentilezza, rispetto e correttezza saranno uno stile di vita, non una strategia.
Source: prevale.net