"Never underestimate your enemy." Who said that, please?

[Cerridwen]

Thanks if you can help. It "feels" like Sun Tzu. Who said it? Do you have a source or link?

Thank you!

Some Sun Tzu quotes:

{Is this the one?}
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tzu

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans, the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field, and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army: By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey; This is called hobbling the army. By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army; This causes restlessness in the soldier's minds. By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

[jtuck004]

1. Possibly several people who are no longer with us? n/t

[Cerridwen]

3. At least. n/t

[KonaKane]

2. Can't find that, but I did find this....

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake". - Napoleon Bonaparte

Sage advice while watching (with glee) the Sarah debacle.

[Cerridwen]

4. I watched, "with glee," ronnie raygun and shrub the failed business"man."

I'm feeling a little less gleeful these days.

You?

[KonaKane]

28. Cerridwen - my favorite Welsh Goddess!

But she was a ball buster...just ask poor Gwyddion/Taliesin!

Anyway, yes, much less gleeful today. I'm feeling like we had the chance to make the big barge but screwed up and got there after it left port, sadly watching it sail out of sight.

[Cerridwen]

31. Honey, mother/destroyer Goddesses ARE awesome.

It has to do with the circle of life. Birth, death, re-birth. One must destroy in order to create.

As to "ball busting?" Yah. Get the patriarchy out of the freaking equation and sit back and watch.

If you consider patriarchy = balls, then yeah. Cerridwen was a "ball buster." I'm not sure I see the problem with that. Take a look around. WTF has patriarchy done for us - lately - or ever?

There's a whole Ph.D. thesis in this post. It's just a post on the internet. Consider 9/10ths of it is redacted.

[KonaKane]

34. "For the honor of Elvin" - Taliesin

Hey, I'm a big fan. Anyone who would try to help cure the ugliness and stupidity of her son (Affagddu) with a good potion is OK with me. And then that crafty other son of hers had to dip his finger in it and became one of the greatest bards and seers ever known. The little shit!

"I was a drop of water upon a leaf. I was a spoonfull of milk from the Maiden's bucket. I was a clump of earth from Bethlehem. All at once." - Taliesin

[-..__...]

5. Mary Alice...

from "Desperate Housewives".

Source

(OK... so I cheated on the test in order to get the correct answer).

[Cerridwen]

7. LOL I'm pretty sure that quote was around before "Desperate Housewives."

I know, I know. Can you believe it? There really was history before TV.

I read it in a book somewhere.

LOL

[Codeine]

6. It's sufficiently generic

that it has almost certainly been uttered by millions in one form or another since time immemorial.

[shraby]

9. Yup, common wisdom.

[Cerridwen]

13. Yeah. Common wisdom is frequently common but not so often

"wisdom."

Did you know a woman over 40 was more likely to be killed by a terrorist than to get a marriage proposal?

Yeah. It was "commonly" known (catapulted) but it was based on very flawed "data."

I'll keep hoping for a source. I've started to think it's a bowdlerization of the first Sun Tzu quote I posted.

[Cerridwen]

10. More axiom than quote, then? That makes sense.

I'd still like to know if we could find a source.

I'm weird that way. :D

[Fire1]

8. I said it and changed 'enemy' to 'stupid.' lol!! n/t

[Cerridwen]

11. "Never underestimate your 'stupid'" Hmmm.

Doesn't work for me. But maybe I translated incorrectly.

Never underestimate the stupidity of your enemy?

That would be Mencken? "Never underestimate the stupidity of the American People."?

No google used before posting. I could be *gasp* wrong!

:rofl:

[Fire1]

12. No, silly. "Never underestimate stupid!" n/t

[Cerridwen]

14. Ahhhhh. Thank you. I over-thought that one.

:blush:

I've been known to do that.

Thanks for correcting me; and doing so nicely.

:D

[Fire1]

15. You're so welcome. Sometimes I leave out need to know

info. Glad we cleared that up! lol!!:hi:

[Cerridwen]

16. Yeah, talking 'shorthand' with those who haven't learned the same

can be very...interesting.

:hi:

[niyad]

17. mencken said, "nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the american public"

[Cerridwen]

18. Thank you!

Lack of google = lack of accuracy. Sometimes, it also = lack of idiocy. My books are in boxes. Google it is. *sigh*

[niyad]

19. you are most welcome. I forget--why are your books in boxes?

[Cerridwen]

21. I've recently moved back home.

I'm primary caregiver for my mother who is 72, has stage 4 Alzheimer's and stage 4 kidney disease caused by 10-12 years of non-diagnosed, untreated, diabetes.

Insert a whole long schpeil in here about it. I'm sure you get the idea.

There's not a lot of room in mom's house for me and my stuff.

I miss my books. I also, miss my mom. She's no longer really here.

/whine off

[DemoTex]

20. Rule out Gen. William Westmoreland as a source ..

And Gen. Creighton Abrams.

[Cerridwen]

22. OK. I laughed at the first then had to google the second.

I think I'll go have another beer.

If you see my sense of humor, please send it back. Use the DU private message feature. I miss my sense of humor even more than I miss my books.

:(

[DemoTex]

29. Well, good comedic timing would dictate that I left it with the Westmoreland reference.

But, no .. I had to get esoteric and add Westmoreland's clueless successor, Gen. "Shaky" Abrams. I call him "Shaky" because his signature appears on a number of my Viet Nam citations. It looks like he signed those citations after a month long binge on 100-proof vodka and Red Bull.

Know what I mean, Vern?

[Cerridwen]

30. Yeah. I know what you mean. *sigh*

Truth? Or comedic timing?

You did the best.

Send my sense of humor to "Cerridwen @ DU."

You?! You frame those citations, shaky sig and all, and post them about you prominently. That "war" was supposed to teach "us" much. Some of us learned. Show us the citations. The rest? Beat them with the damned things!

Okay. Maybe whiskey would be better than beer.

We need a wry-smile smiley.

[Cerridwen]

23. Kick. Still searching. n/t

[timeforpeace]

24. Saddam Hussein

[Cerridwen]

26. You're still here?

Thanks for replying.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. No cites to be found. Some trace it, inferentially, back to Ephesians 6:10-12

But I'm not a biblical scholar.

Or a football fan! :)

:hug:

[Cerridwen]

27. There was some serious knot-tying to get from that to the "quote"

in my OP.

Who knew?! LOL

Regardless, it's a good axiom. Now. If only I can convince people that politics is war. *sigh*

Some day, I'll type at you my reasons why I hate, er no, loathe sports.

~Humorless feminist
~~Cerridwen

:hug:

[niyad]

32. okay, because you need the laughs, I just googled "feminist humour"

(mainly because I was trying to remember the title of a book about mammary glands (with pics) and chapters were titled things like "knockers", "jugs", etc)

"in stitches" a patchwork of feminist humor and satire

and there is marietta holley's "samantha wrastles the woman question"

there are about 3.2 million links with the search "feminist humour"

time to go have some fun!!

[Cerridwen]

33. You know you just killed that stereotype, right? LOL (edited0

I'm just basing my posts on the "fact" that so many here have bought into the whole "feminists are humorless" crap. Gee, ya think feminists catapulted that image? Yeah, me either.

Thank you for the google search terms.

It's nice to know my lived experience is actually documented on the inter-tubes. You think I'm "allowed" to laugh at that?

:rofl:

Seriously, thanks, niyad. "Funny" thing, feminists are people. Who knew?!



edited to add: great! Now I've got to go google. LMAO!

Thank you, again, niyad.

:yourock: