“ . . . [Davita] Malo wrote a letter to Kenahu to pass along to the King [Kamehameha III] . . . ‘If a big wave comes in, large fishes will come from the dark ocean which you never saw before. And when they see the small fishes they will eat them up. The ships of the white men have come and smart people have arrived from the great countries which you have never seen before. They know our people are few in number and living in a small country. They will eat us up. Such has always been the case with large countries. The small ones have been gobbled up.’”

James L. Haley
Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii

“Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.”

Sun Tzu
The Art of War

“It is easy to be judged a success when luck runs with the fortunate son. But when adversity strikes, the true measure of a man percolates to the surface.”

Sean Parnell
Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan