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"I look around briefly at the other players like I always do before a game. Other than Queenie, Bill, and Talon, I don't know any of them (and I don't care enough about them to know them). But if there's going to be any cordiality, any forced politeness or 'Aw, shucks, let's all just try to have a good time here tonight' kind of blather, then now's the time to get it out of the way before I get down to the business of screwing everyone out of their hopes and dreams."
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"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak."
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Personal Development
"Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend, march swiftly to places where you are not expected."
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Personal Development
"For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak."
Author Name
Personal Development
"If your enemy offers you two targets, strike at a third."
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Personal Development
"This was how an enemy should be dealt with: with a dagger, not a declaration."
Author Name
Personal Development
"The secret to unseating great power, is not to move the other direction, but to compete directly against their goals."
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Personal Development
"Before one may scare the plain people one must first have a firm understanding of the bugaboos that most facilely alarm them. One must study the schemes that have served to do it in the past, and one must study very carefully the technic of the chief current professionals."
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Personal Development
"So long as victory can be attained, stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness."
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Personal Development
"Strategy can turn a losing battle into a winning battle."
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Personal Development
"When in fear it is safest to force the attack."
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Personal Development
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"Once the principals in their party are seated, with those lower on the totem pole left to grumble and move on to find another table, our once-cozy booth transforms into a damp fusion of vacuous wretchedness, with the three women all complaining alternately about their wet hair/clothes and their respective distance from Talon, while the man himself is trying to maneuver his Paul Bunyan frame way too close to me."
Party
"Just keep it simple, Alice Faye. Remember how you taught yourself. Nothing's different just because you're on a yacht, or wearing a fancy dress. Or because you appear to have dropped acid and are now in the mirror room at the fun house."
Simplicity
"I don't think I heard the same ending you did. Maybe you should tell it again."
Misunderstanding
"Alice, winning means manipulation. It means taking people-people who may have helped you in the past, even people you care about-and using them without hesitation or regret. It means making decisions that would be viewed by any normal-thinking human being as cynical at best and dishonorable at worst."
Power
"Who are you? Rabbit and Souris call you 'Alice,' me and Dee call you 'Faye.' I just didn't know if 'Alice' was your poker-playing, Southern Hemisphere name or what. Hey, I'm just trying to fit in here. If I should be introducing myself as 'Clark,' I want to know about it sooner rather than later so I don't embarrass myself."
Identity
"Like your sweet, affectionate house cat, Alice Dahl is easy to underestimate. It's not until the songbirds in the yard show up eviscerated on the front porch that you realize you should've kept that bell collar on her-because those poor birds never even saw her coming."
Cat
"And just so you know-that winter forest we walked into first? That was from Through the Looking Glass too. Hey, if you're going to saddle me with the blame for your overconsumption, at least get the book right."
Blame
"I like it because when people use a lot of poker lingo, it usually means they've been playing the game for a while. Which is why I immediately avoid those people."
Social
"Souris says you wanted to see me, so here I am. Talk quick before I decide to beat the shit out of you and throw your bloody carcass back across the International Date Line."
Humor
"So 'fatal' only kills you two out of three times these days? That's good to know."
Humor
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