Retreat quotes
127 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
"In monasteries, seminaries, retreats and synagogues, they fear hell and seek paradise. Those who know the mysteries of God never let that seed be planted in their souls."
"In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance."
"Die, but do not retreat."
"One who speaks deferentially but increases his preparations will advance. One who speaks belligerently and advances hastily will retreat."
"In this Revolution no plans have been written for retreat."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside retreat — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Indomitable in retreat, invincible in advance; insufferable in victory."
"How readily the bluebirds become our friends and neighbors when we offer them suitable nesting retreats!"
"In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by."
"He who retreats lives longer."
"Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat."
"Braving obstacles and hardships is braver than retreat to tranquility."
"The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue"
"In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons."
"Fence straddlers have no balls. In compensation, however, they enjoy a comfortable seat and can retreat swiftly, when danger threatens, to either side of the fence. There is something to be said for every position."
"Going forward seems like retreat."
"Any man who retreats into a cave which has only one opening deserves to die."
"You have to know when to strike and when to retreat."
"Our language, once homely and colloquial, seeks to aggrandize our meanest activities with polysyllabic terms or it retreats from frankness into a stammering verbosity."
"It occurs to me that artists go forward by going backward, something which I have nothing against intrinsically when it is a reproduced retreat - as is the case with the better artists."
"Has science ever retreated? No! It is Catholicism which has always retreated before her, and will always be forced to retreat."
"I never retreat from films, as it were, I simply indulge in other interests, that's all."
"Brooklyn is kind of my writer's retreat."
"Let us fight the battle-retreat from the things that attract us and rouse ourselves to meet the things that actually attack us."
"When the corpses are cleared no new order will emerge. Power, society, relationships, will descend in all their confusion on a new generation. The old, who started this conflagration, will retreat, worn out, the survivors and the young will continue the dance."
"I like the idea of going to one of those retreats where you don't speak - like, silence for five days."
