Combat Pragmatist/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Maxim 31: Only cheaters prosper.
Cheaters Always Prosper.
Tyrian, with God Mode turned on.

"Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't."

"Only a heathen would bring a gun to a swordfight."

"And only a moron would bring a sword to a gunfight."
—Baron Vengeous and Skulduggery Pleasant
"It's called cheating. Deal with it!"
"All's fair in a fight to the death."
Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist
British Major Fairbairn, who had been chief of police in Shanghai before the Japanese capture of the city, taught the Fairbairn method of assault and murder. His course was not restricted to Camp X, but later given at OSS camps in the United States. All of us who were taught by Major Fairbairn soon realized that he had an honest dislike for anything that smacked of decency in fighting.
—Richard Dunlop, Behind Japanese Lines

Will Turner: You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you.

Jack Sparrow: Then that's not much incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?
"I'd kill a man in a fair fight... or if I thought he was gonna start a fair fight..."
Jayne Cobb, Firefly
"The first rule of American combat doctrine appears to be to disregard all other rules of American combat doctrine if it is advantageous to do so."
Unknown Soviet general
"Few indeed are the maiming tricks of foul combat unknown to even the rank and file of the highly efficient Secret Service of the Triplanetary League; and Costigan, a Sector Chief of that unknown organization, knew them all. Not for pleasure, sportsmanship, nor million-dollar purses do these secret agents use Nature's weapons. They come to grips only when it cannot possibly be avoided, but when they are forced to fight in that fashion, they go into it with but one grim purpose-- to kill, and to kill in the shortest possible space of time."
"Spies are not trained to fight fair. Spies are trained to win."
Michael Westen, Burn Notice
"The point of warfare is not to die for your country, but make the other bastard die for his!"
General George Patton.
"When you're on your own, behind enemy lines, no artillery, no air strikes, no hope of an evac, you don't fight dirty. You do things that make dirty look good."
I didn't bother to say, "Don't fight fair." In the world we share, that's the air we breathe.
"Timothy, 'fair' means I bring all my people home alive. Fuck the others."
John Clark, Rainbow Six

"I say victory is better than honour."

"Cowardice is a term invented by those with no cunning."
—Ignoble Soldier, "Magic: The Gathering"

"You cheated!"

"Pirate."
Will Turner & Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean.

"Honor is for those who can afford to lose"

"You can wash away disgrace with results."
Archer, Fate/stay night
"You don't win fights by being a strong man or a clever boxer. You win by being more willing to permanently fuck up the other guy."
Michael Jones (while proving his point nicely by permanently fucking up the other guy), Desolation Jones

Huntress: Did I just see you cheating?

Batman: Winning.

Inmate: Now, you're gonna want to poke the guy's eyes out so he can't see the fight...
Mentor: Dude, the kid is in high school.

Inmate: Oh. Then you're gonna have to fight dirty.
The New Guy
Wild dogs--also called fucking wolves--are inquisitive, intelligent predators that travel in packs. Which means there are several of them and they all think "fair fight" means "we outnumber the hell out of you".

"If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!"


"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand, lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

I do not believe in fighting fair. A fair fight is a sign of poor tactics

"The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war."
John Lyly's 'Euphues'

Scrooge McDuck: Still a cheater, eh, Glomgold?

Flintheart Glomgold: I look at it this way: Why not?! Hehe-ahahaha!
"It was just him and me. He fought with honor. If it weren't for his honor, he and the others would have beaten me together. They might have killed me, then. His sense of honor saved my life. I didn't fight with honor... I fought to win."
Ender from Ender's Game
"I don't pick fights I can't win."
"Victory goes not to the loudest, but to the most effective."'
Master of Whispers, Guild Wars: Nightfall
"Fair fights are too easy to lose"
Harry Dresden, The Dresden Files

Lysa Arryn: You do not fight with honor!

Bronn: No. (Looks to the floor.) He did.
"Verily, thou art not paid for thy methods, but for thy results, by which meaneth thou shalt kill thine enemy before he killeth you by any means available. Thou shalt, in thy Warrior's Mind and Soul, always remember My Ultimate and Final Commandment: There Are No Rules-Thou Shalt Win At All Cost."
The Ten Commandments of Spec War according to Richard Marcinko, Red Cell
I know you won't break the rules. There aren't any.
—Dr. Dealgood on settling disputes by combat in Thunderdome, Mad Max
If it's worth fighting for, it's worth fighting dirty for.
Murphy's Laws of Military Operations
Starbuck: This isn't dueling pistols at dawn, this is war. You never wanna fight fair. You wanna sneak up behind your enemy, and club 'em over the head. You see, Scar understands that. And so do I. So, that's why I'm gonna kill him.
"I don't believe in fair fights, Ms. Lewis. I believe in winning."
Tony Stark, Gift of Asylum
We fight dirty. If an enemy is facing us, we might consider our options, and even slip away if his sword looks too big. If his back is to us, however, I personally favor knocking him down, and then jumping on his neck where the bones snap with a gratifying crunch. Of course, it is up to you and your personal style.

"Victory needs no explanation. Defeat accepts no excuse."

"When lives are on the line, there is no such thing as a fair fight."

You want to kill a man like me, you better stab me in the back. That's the catch. See, honorable men, they die hard. But they still die. It's men like me that survive and conquer.
Nicola the Woodcutter, Bunraku

Count Brocken: "Damn you! How dare the righteous protagonist do something so dirty! You sure about this? The fans will cry, you know´."

Kouji: "Shut up! Take it like a man! Don't try play innocent with me!"