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In his chapter on encouraging soldiers, Wu Tzu said:

One man can intimidate a thousand men, if he's expecting to die.

...in a context of two individuals:...

If one is thinking of successfully killing the other to gain a reputation, while the other moves in relentlessly, considering the ground beneath his feet to be his grave, the difference between them is immense.

Mao Yen Yi said:

When swords cross you must be resolute and quick.

If you hesitate, that's the self-centered mind shrinking in fear, timidly retreating.

When you break through the self-centered attitude, then sure and swift courage and resolve spring up like a hungry hawk attacking a bird or a starving tiger seizing an animal.

Sun Tzu, the Sage of War, said:

I have heard of military actions that were clumsy but quick, whereas I have never seen any that were skillful yet took a long time.

Once thoughts are settled, your heart is strong and you advance and withdraw without hesitation.

-- Training the Samurai Mind by Thomas Cleary, Chapter 20

(Audible edition)

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Apparently there is an easier way to do things but I wouldn't know. I like to do it the hard way and take as much physical and emotional damage as possible.

-- Platform Decay by Martha Wells

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If there's more of us, then we're not rebels.

[ramshacklefey]

Oh c'mon, don't leave out the rest of the list!

Note: they moved several barricades, no fighting involved.

(full text of both photos under the cut)

Supposing the area behind the barricades was bigger than the area in front of the barricades, right?

Like, sort of, it had more people in it and more of the city if you follow me.

Then, correct me if I'm wrong Sarge, but that'd mean in a manner of speaking we are now in front of the barricades, am I right?

Then, as it were, it's not like we're rebellin', is it? ’Cos there's more of us, so the majority can't rebel, it stands to reason.

So that makes us the good guys. Obviously we've been the good guys all along, but now it'd be kind of official, right? Like, mathematical?

So, we thought we'd push on to Short Street and the. We could nip over into Dimwell and up the other side of the river . . .

Are we going to get into trouble for this, Sarge?

You're looking at me in a funny way, Sarge.

Sorry, Sarge.

Vimes, with an increasingly worried Fred Colon in front of him, and some of the other barricadeers standing around as if caught in an illicit game of Knocking On Doors And Running Away, thought about this. The men watched him carefully, in case of an explosion. And it actually had a weird kind of logic, if you didn't factor in considerations like "real life" and "common sense."

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New England weather allowed the lilacs to still be somewhat in bloom on the 25th of May this year (2026)

[vantavarmint]

vimes in his natural habitat

[trip-kapkan]

The hardest part about painting on canvas is photographing it well

[bluecontactlens]

"At this time! In this place!" 🪻🥚 Happy Glorious 25th of May to those who celebrate. GNU Terry Pratchett

[vivitur-moritur]

the sewing machine is a delicate breed of horse

[vivitur-moritur]

update: i’ve made it through the user manual and have sewn myself a cravat. the sewing machine is a delicate breed of horse with anger in its motion and spite in its heart.

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"We're going to see someone who's either our murderer or who knows who the murderer is."

Cheery stopped. "But you've got only a sword and I haven't even got that."

"Don't worry, we won't need weapons."

"Oh, good."

"They wouldn't be any use."

"Oh."

-- Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

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I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives, and several bartenders dependant upon me, and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself slightly killed.

-- 'North by Northwest' 1959

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[king-of-kaoss]

The difference between “calm and normal” and actual normal was measurable enough that I could have made a chart.

[king-of-kaoss]

traumatized humans with unsecured weapons make me nervous

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"I can carry you."

She seemed ok with that and held up her arms. I picked her up and was going to tell her to put her arms around my neck and hold on, but she immediately clamped onto me like a tentacled parasite in a horror show.

-- Platform Decay by Martha Wells

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When you get free will suddenly for the first time in your existence, there's a whole impulse control issue that kicks in.

-- Platform Decay by Martha Wells

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The Air Killings:

A supposedly true dramatization of a series of murders in an early asteroid colony. It was pretty good, if you weren't worried about becoming confused as to the actual existence or not of psychic monsters. I was not worried about that.

-- Platform Decay by Martha Wells

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I really wanted to kill them, but they were so whiny and screamy it was hard to get started.

-- Platform Decay by Martha Wells