On War

Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader of the Indian Independence Movement:

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?”

Sun Tzu, early Chinese general and author of The Art of War:

In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them
a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.

Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

Hermann Göring, second in command of the German Third Reich during the reign of Adolph Hitler:

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war … but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

Ron Paul, US Congressman and 2008 Presidential Candidate:

“Terror is a tactic. We can not wage ‘war’ against a tactic.”

Isaac Asimov, celebrated science-fiction author:

“Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent.”

Ronald Regan, 40th President of the United States:

“History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.”

Ernest Hemingway, American novelist:

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.”

Benjamin Franklin, early American polymath and Founding Father of the United States:

“Never has there been a good war or a bad peace.”

This entry was written by Josh Kaufman, posted on August 21, 2007 at 10:58 am, filed under Quotes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Personal MBA Launch Update: Holy Cow, My Servers are Melting!!!

Today has been an interesting day. Within 4 hours of posting the new Personal MBA manifesto and reading list, I was simultaneously featured on Reddit, StumbleUpon, Seth Godin’s blog, and many, many blogs. As a result, my server got tired and shut down due to lack of capacity. (Mind you, these pages are pretty small, and I’m using a very good web host.)

I am working diligently to get personalmba.com back online. Thanks for your patience!

This entry was written by Josh Kaufman, posted on August 13, 2007 at 5:36 pm, filed under Announcements. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

LAUNCH: The Personal MBA Manifesto and Recommended Reading List, 2007 edition

I just launched the new version of the Personal MBA manifesto and recommended reading list. For details, read this post on the PMBA blog.

This entry was written by Josh Kaufman, posted on at 9:27 am, filed under Announcements. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.