"Great art stretches the taste, it doesn't follow tastes."
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Art quotes
Art
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Art quotes (page 151 of 1107)
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"I'm not a human being. I'm despicable and disgusting - but that's where the money is."
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"Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision."
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"In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed."
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"It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order."
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"The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds."
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"Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be total."
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"The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch'ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both."
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"One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him."
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"It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled."
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"We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporising ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy."
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"If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory."
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"If not in the interests of the state, do not act. If you cannot succeed, do not use troops. If you are not in danger, do not fight."
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"By altering his arrangements and changing his plans, the skillful general keeps the enemy without definite knowledge. By shifting his camp and taking circuitous routes, he prevents the enemy from anticipating his purpose. At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him."
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"To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it."
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"Be the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances you are in peril."
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"We cannot enter into alliance with neighbouring princes until we are acquainted with their designs. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country - its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides."
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"With regard to narrow passes, if you can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy."
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"When campaigning, be swift as the wind; in leisurely march, majestic as the forest; in raiding and plundering, like fire; in standing, firm as the mountains. As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt."
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"Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man."
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