Quotes

[AlokaParyetra]

More good quotes:

All of the following are by Kautilya, the military and political advisor to Chandragupta Maurya. They are saying from his text, the Arthasastra.

"One trusting in fate, being devoid of human endeavor, perishes. The object slips away from the foolish person, who continuously consults the stars; . . . what will the stars do?"

"An arrow, discharged by an archer, may kill one person or may not kill even one; but intellect operated by a wise man would kill even children in the womb."

"War and peace are considered solely from the point of view of profit."

"A neighboring prince possessed of the excellences of an enemy is the foe; one in calamity is vulnerable; one without support or with weak support is fit to be exterminated."

more to come...

[hoggy]

Any more quotes out there? I'm populating the Blue Lotus quotes as we speak. Quotes from the ancient China, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia etc which relate to war, diplomacy, blue lotus imagery or are just plain good. some modern ones will go too if they are universal or timeless.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

here are a few that i found from google and stuff:

A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction.
-Chinese Proverb

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
-Mao Tse-Tung

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
-Horace Mann

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
-Sun-tzu

[Kinjiss]

Japanese girls will laugh at the drop of a chopstick - japanese proverb

[Morray]

Some Korean ones for you!

"A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out"

"Words have no wings but they can fly a thousand miles"

"Put off for one day and ten days will pass" (soooo true)

"A kitchen knife cannot carve its own handle" (I don't get it )
"Where there are no tigers, a wildcat is very self-important"

"Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut" (heh heh I like this one)
"Carve the peg by looking at the hole" (short but sweet)

"The bad plowman quarrels with his ox" (bad worksman blames his tools anyone)
"Power lasts ten years; influence not more than a hundred." (again...don't get it!)

[monkian]

"do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?".

Ancient Sages of the Water Margain

[matteus the inbred]

this one exists in many forms, but i think it's a Terry Pratchett dwarf saying

'when his waist is higher than your head, his testicles are level with your teeth'
or
'all trees are felled at the ground level''

on a more refined note -
Had I not known
that I was dead
already
I would have mourned
the loss of my life.

Ota Dokan, builder of Edo castle