Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Sun Tzu

Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.
Horatio Nelson

To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.
Beverley Nichols

To conquer the command of the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat and acceptance of whatever terms the enemy may be pleased to impose.
Giulio Douhet

To defeat the aggressors is not enough to make peace durable. The main thing is to discard the ideology that generates war.
Ludwig von Mises

To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.
Francis Marion Crawford

To recommend that women become identical to men, would be simple reversal, and would defeat the whole point of androgyny, and for that matter, feminism: in both, the whole point is choice.
Carolyn Heilbrun

Tragedy occurs when a human soul awakes and seeks, in suffering and pain, to free itself from crime, violence, infamy, even at the cost of life. The struggle is the tragedy - not defeat or death.
Whittaker Chambers

Unless there is recognition that women are most vulnerable... and you do something about social and cultural equality for women, you're never going to defeat this pandemic.
Stephen Lewis

Upon the whole it was a Glorious day-Our men are in the Spirits-and I am confident we shall give them a total defeat the next Action; which is at no great distance.
Anthony Wayne

Victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan.
Galeazzo Ciano

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
John F. Kennedy

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.
Malcolm Forbes

War is a defeat for humanity.
Pope John Paul II

War is grounded in the notion of triumph and defeat. It is zero-sum.
Bruce Jackson

Washington's defeat in 1754 was followed by active military preparations on both sides.
Albert Bushnell Hart

We are ever mindful the risks our troops face every day and the sacrifices made by the families and the communities that support them as those who have been removed from power seek to delay their inevitable defeat.
John Warner

We are going to have to be there until we defeat this enemy.
Thelma Drake

We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.
Queen Victoria

We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization, can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
George Soros