Attrition..

[Atraphoenix]

Well he *was* writing in a very different military context...

If you know yourself, and your enemy you will be victorious in each battles you fought,
If you know yourself, but not your enemy you will gain one victory after one defeat,
If you do not know your enemy even yourself, you are destined to lose every battle...

a bad translation but It has a huge relevance methinks,
on the other hand;

Je ne veux pas tuer le thème plus/I do not want to kill the topic any more...