Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: Thrawn Quotes

Never make the mistake of believing forberance equates to acceptance, or that all positions are equally valid.

The soldier in the field and the crew member aboard a warship inevitably see a war from a limited perspective. Their goal is to carry out their mission or their appointed task, and trust that their commanders are aware of the larger situation and the vast matrix of facts, positions, options, and dangers. Leadership is a role and a task that should never be aspired to lightly. Neither should loyalty be given without reason. Even if the primary reason is nothing more than the soldier's oath and duty, a true leader will work to prove worthy of a deeper trust.
But leadership and loyalty are both two-bladed weapons. Each can be twisted from its intended purpose. The consequences are never pleasant.

Military leadership is a journey, not a destination. It is continually challenged, and must continually prove it self anew against fresh obstacles. Sometimes those obstacles are external events. Other times they are the doubts of those being led. Still other times they are a result of the leaders's own failures and shortcomings.
Political power and influence are different. Once certain levels have been reached, there is no need to prove leadership or competence. A person with such power is accustomed to having every word carefully considere, and every whim treated as an order. And all who recognize that power know to bow to it.
A few have the courage or the foolishness to resist. Some succeed in standing firm against the storm. More often, they find their paths yet again turned form their hopes for goal.

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.

All strive for victory. But not all understand what it truly is. To a soldier or pilot on the line, victory is surviving the current battle. To a politician, victory is an advantage one can bring to a bargaining table. To a warrior, victory is driving an enemy from the field of battle, or bringing him to surrender.
Sometimes victory is greater than the warrior could ever hope for.
Sometimes it is more than he is able to hear.

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.

War is a primarily a game of skill. It is a Contest of mind matched against mind, tactics matched against tactics.
But there is also an element of chance that is more suited to games of cards or dice. A wise tactician studies those games, as well, and learns from them.
The first lesson of card games is that the cards cannot be played in random order. Only when laid down properly can victory be achieved.
In this case, there were but three cards.
The first was played at the encampment. The result was entrance to the Strikefast. The second was played aboard ship. The result was promise of passage to Coruscant, and the assignment of Cadet Vanto as my translator.
The third was a name: Anakin Skywalker.

An enemy will almost never be anything except an enemy. All one can do with an enemy is defeat him. But and adversary can sometimes become an ally.
There is a cost, of course. In all things in life there is a cost. In dealing with an adversary, sometimes the cost paid in power or position.
Sometimes the cost is greater. Sometimes the risk is one's future, or even one's life.
But in all such situations, the calculation is straightforward: whether or not the potential gain is worth the potential loss.
And the warrior must never forget that he and his adversary are not the only ones in that equation. Sometimes, all the universe may hang in the balance.

No one can say where his path will take him, even for the duration of a single day. More difficult still is to see where one's path will intersect that of another warrior.
A warrior must always be alert for such meetings. Some are generated by happenstance, and those may be benign. But others are arranged with purpose. Those must never be underestimated.
Fortunately, there are always signs. Before any trap is sprung, it must be prepared and primed and armed. If one reads the signs properly, the pattern of the attack will be clear.
But one must always remember that launching a trap is easier than defeating it.

Each person has goals. Some goals are open, visible to all who care to observe. Others are more private, shared only with one's closest friends or associates.
Some are dark secrets that one hopes will never see the light of day. But eventually, inevitably, those deepest goals must be made manifest if they are to be reached. They must be opened for someone to hear, or see, or offer assistance.
Everyone who brings those goals into the light must be prepared for either acceptance or rejection. And he must be ready to bear the consequence.
All of them.

A great tactician creates plans. A good tactician recognizes the soundness of a plan presented on him. A fair tactician must see the plan succeed before offering approval.
Those with no tactical ability at all may never understand or accept it. Nor will such people understand or accept the tactician. To those without that ability, those who posses it are a mystery.
And when a mind is too deficient in understanding, the resulting gap is often filled with with resentment.