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Art of war Quote by Peter Matthiessen

““THey were jeered and admired by both sides and were not shot at, for display and panoply were part of war, which was less war than ceremonial sport, a wild, fierce festival… A day of war was dangerous and splendid, regardless of its outcome; it was a war of individuals and gallantry, quite innocent of tactics and cold slaughter. A single death--or two or three--was the end purpose of the war…””

Peter Matthiessen

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Alec Wilkinson is a spare, clear, and lucid writer who works in stylistic simplicity with material that is not simple at all.

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Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders

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I think in any writing you're paying attention to detail.

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The great stillness in these landscapes that once made me restless seeps into me day by day, and with it the unreasonable feeling that…

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“...experience was static in the valley; it was older than time itself, for time was a thing of but two generations, dated by moons…

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“The central feature of the practice of meditation and hard work known as Zen is that, as Matthiessen says, it “has no patience with mysticism, far less the occult.” Nor does it have any time with moralism, the prescriptions or distortions we would impose on the world, obscuring it from our view. It asks, it insists rather, that we take…

Peter Matthiessen

Be light, light, light - full of light!

Peter Matthiessen

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For some time I watch the coming of the night? Above is the glistening galaxy of childhood, now hidden in the Western world by…

Peter Matthiessen

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“Nonfiction at its best is like fashioning a cabinet. It can be elegant and very beautiful but it can never be sculpture. Captive to facts—or predetermined forms—it cannot fly. Excepting those masters who transcend their craft—great medieval and Renaissance artisans, for example, or nameless artisans of traditional cultures as far back as the caves who were also spontaneous unselfconscious artists.…

Peter Matthiessen

Soon the child’s clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions, and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty…

Peter Matthiessen

“In the book of Job, the Lord demands, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “I was there!”-surely that is the answer to God’s question. For no matter how the universe came into being, most of the atoms in these fleeting assemblies that we think of as our bodies have been in existence since the beginning.…

Peter Matthiessen

I meditate for the last time on this mountain that is bare, though others all around are white with snow. Like the bare peak of the koan, this one is not different from myself. I know this mountain because I am this mountain, I can feel it breathing at this moment, as its grass tops stray against the snows. If…

Peter Matthiessen

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More Art of war quotes

“In a similar way, The Art of War pinpoints anger and greed as fundamental causes of defeat.”

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Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.

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The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his…

There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.

Niccolo Machiavelli

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That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided…

Niccolo Machiavelli

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I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for…

Niccolo Machiavelli

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If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely…

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In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

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“In the art of war, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the approaching battles. But if you know…

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They [spies] cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness.

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In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. In…

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Do not press an enemy at bay.

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