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About this quote

What does it mean?
Repeated conflict with one enemy helps them learn your tactics.
In plain terms
Don't fight the same enemy too often or they learn your war art.
What can you take from it?
Limit exposure to repeated conflicts.

Where it applies

  • military strategy
  • business competition
  • interpersonal disputes

Putting it to work

  • avoid predictable patterns
  • change tactics
  • end conflicts quickly

Questions to consider

  • How often should you fight?
  • Is consistency a weakness in war?

Another view

Some conflicts are unavoidable and require persistence.

More from Napoleon Bonaparte

  1. You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.

    Permalink to quote #203
  2. Quoted in Representative Men: Uses of Great Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Permalink to quote #205
  3. When he who measures the duration of life has pronounced his secret, all the sciences of humanity are but useless essays.

    Permalink to quote #202

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