I finally got around to reading this the other day and I was absolutely floored by the wisdom of this book. Obviously it is a bit outdated and I don’t agree with everything but I feel like I’ve glimpsed into the mind of a warrior who truly understood combat. Did anyone else have a similar reaction?
I got from it that you should use everything you have to win. Conventions or form be damned. If you die with a unused reserve weapon, why even try fighting in the first place? If you have to be a dick to give you an advantage, do it.
Basically, treat every fight like a battle of armies. The location is as important as the time, as is the troop composition.
Yeah absolutely, but I’m wondering what he would say about compromising our morality to win. He describes the way of the warrior as also being the way of the gentleman and talks about being a good leader for one’s people (putting aside the gender issue here although I don’t see why anyone couldn’t be a warrior) so I wonder what he would say about that.