Timothy Zahn Quotes

If you accept the position of governor, part of your job is to make sure all your people have a decent shot at making something good out of their lives.

I've found that what most people call luck is often little more than raw talent combined with the ability to make the most of opportunities. (Talon Karrde)

There are three ways to take down a wild tusklan.The average hunter takes a large-bore weapon with which to shoot the animal. When it works, the method is quick and efficient. But if the first shot fails to hit a vital organ, the tusklan may be upon its attackerbfore a second shot can be aimed and fired.The wise hunter takes a smaller-bore weapon. The method is less likely to produce a first-shot kill, but the second, third, or fourth shot may succeed. However if the bore is to small, none of the shots will penetrate to vital points, and the tusklan will again triumph over its attacker.The subtle hunter takes no visible weapon at all. He instead induces a thousand sting flies to attack the tusklan from all sides. The method is slow, and destructive of the pelt. But in the end, the tusklan is dead. And dies never knowing where the attack came from.

One whose path has taken a new turn is often initially disoriented. But as time passes, and the path continues steadily in its new direction, there is a tendency to believe that it will remain so forever, with no further turns.Nothing is further from the truth. A path once bent is always susceptible to new changes.Particularly when the original change came from manipulation by an outside force.

Alliances are useful in some situations. In others, they are absolutely vital.But they must always be approached with caution. Unity of that sort is based on mutual advantage. While that advantage exists the alliance may stand firm. But needs change, and advantages fade, and a day may come when one ally sees new benefits to be gained in betraying another.The warrior must be alert to such changes if he is to anticipate and survive an anannounced blow. Fortunately, the signs are usually evident in time for defense to be planned and executed.There is also always the possibility that changes will serve to meld the allies even more closely together. It is rare, but it can happen.

No one is immune to failure. All have tasted the bitterness of defeat and disappointment. A warrior must not dwell on that failure, but must learn from it and continue on.But not all learn from their errors. That is something those who seek to dominate others know very well, and know how to exploit it. If an opponent has failed once at a lococal problem, his enemy will first try the same type of problem, hoping the failure will be repeated.What the manipulator sometimes forgets, and what a warrior must always remember, is that no two sets of circumstances are alike. One challenge is not like the other. The would-be victim may have learned from the earlier mistake.Or there may have been an unanticipated or unknown crossing of life paths.

Leadership and obedience are the two legs on which a warrior's life is balanced. Without both, victory cannot be achieved.Leadership depends on information and comprehension. Not so obedience. Sometimes a commander may choose to share details of his plan. Often he may not. In either case, obedience must be instant and complete.Such automatic response relies on trust between commander and those commanded. And that trust can only be obtained through leadership.

At one time or another, every warrior wishes to have an unconquerable fortress. Such as a fortress is perceived as a refuge, a place of defiance, or a rock upon which enemies can be goaded into smashing themselves to their own destruction.Politicians, too, yearn for such a fortresses, though they envision them in terms of power and authority instead of stone and weapons and shields. Industrialists wish to be similarly protected against competitors and marauders, while pirates hope for defense against system of authorities. In one way or another, all people wish for ultimate safety.But ultimately safety does not exist. Those who trust in such will find that hope dashed upon the very rock behind which they seek to hide.