"Declining to hear ‘no’ is a signal that someone is either seeking control or refusing to relinquish it. With strangers, even those with the best intentions, never, ever relent on the issue of ‘no,’ because it sets the stage for more efforts to control. If you let someone talk you out of the word ‘no,’ you might as well wear a sign that reads, ‘You are in charge.’"

— Gavin de Becker, from The Gift of Fear

"It is impossible to teach true self-defense to someone without them first overcoming fear and the critical voice. True self-defense is an awareness that can’t be switched on instantaneously. It is automatic, in the sense that it is always switched on. Your spirit should automatically rise to defeat your opposition when it has been transgressed. You have your limits and your rights, and nobody has the right to be there unless you give them permission. You are the ruler of yourself, and right or wrong, these are the things that you hold sacred. You would rather die than see them defaced."

"Being assertive will avoid problems; being aggressive will bring them on. The danger of using verbal aggression is that, while it works under normal circumstances, it can lull you into assuming that it will work in all situations."

"The objective of the violent criminal is to control you, emotionally and physically. Everything he does — his threats and promises — is intended to terrify and control you. . . . For most crime victims, their temporary cooperation backfired into full control over them."

"The only way a (parasitic individual) could return after being got rid of was through pity. The same is true of any type of evil. Feeling sorry for people who are engaged in wrong action does nobody any good."

"In the Korean village in which I grew up, there was a woman who was often beaten by her husband. One day she tired of the mistreatment. She told her husband, ‘If you ever lay a hand on me again, I will stay awake all night if necessary until you are asleep. Then, when you are defenseless, I will beat you with a stick.’ He understood her meaning and humbly begged her forgiveness. He never mistreated her again."

— Master Bong Soo Han

"When, against one’s will, one is high-pressured into making a hurried decision, the best answer is always ‘No,’ because ‘No’ is more easily changed to ‘Yes’ than ‘Yes’ is changed to ‘No.’"

— Charles E. Nielsen

"Always go before our enemies with confidence, otherwise our apparent uneasiness inspires them with greater boldness."

— Napoleon I

"Attacks must be answered. An assertion unanswered is an assertion agreed to."

— Geoff Garin

"A bully is not reasonable — he is persuaded only by threats."

"It is impossible to teach true self-defense to someone without them first overcoming fear and the critical voice. True self-defense is an awareness that can’t be switched on instantaneously. It is automatic, in the sense that it is always switched on. Your spirit should automatically rise to defeat your opposition when it has been transgressed. You have your limits and your rights, and nobody has the right to be there unless you give them permission. You are the ruler of yourself, and right or wrong, these are the things that you hold sacred. You would rather die than see them defaced."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Cheap Shots, Ambushes, and Other Lessons (p. 11)

"Declining to hear ‘no’ is a signal that someone is either seeking control or refusing to relinquish it. With strangers, even those with the best intentions, never, ever relent on the issue of ‘no,’ because it sets the stage for more efforts to control. If you let someone talk you out of the word ‘no,’ you might as well wear a sign that reads, ‘You are in charge.’"

— Gavin de Becker, from The Gift of Fear

"We do not apologize for a damned thing."

"The majority of the time, just prior to a mugging, stomping, or sexual assault, the perpetrator(s) will ‘interview’ the prospective victim. This may simply consist of bumming a cigarette or spare change, or it might be an inappropriately chummy street person suddenly trying to be your ‘bestest pal.’ Your reaction to this interview will let them know if you’re a safe (soft and weak) target."

— Jake Bishop

"If a person has his sword out all the time, he is habitually swinging a naked blade; people will not approach him and he will have no allies. If a sword is always sheathed, it will become rusty, the blade will dull, and people will think as much of its owner."

— from Hagakure, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Wilson translation)

"The direct, unwavering stare is a form of threat . . ."

"Silence gives consent."

— Oliver Goldsmith

"Self-defense is nature’s eldest law."

"Better to be pissed off than pissed on."

"Junior Bush was a fighter pilot during the war in Vietnam, not in the United States Air Force, where one could get seriously hurt, but in the Texas air force, known as the Air Guard. Texas’s toy army, an artefact of Civil War days, is a favorite club for warmongers a bit squeamish about actual combat. Membership excused these weekend warriors from the military draft and the real shoot ‘m up in ‘Nam. Young George W. tested at 25 out of 100, one point above ‘too-dumb-to-fly’ status, yet leaped ahead of hundreds of applicants to get the Guard slot."

"I had other priorities."

— Dick Cheney, on why he refused to serve in the military during Vietnam

"The master-class has always made the wars, and the worker-class has always fought them."

"In the military, it is said that amateurs talk of battles and tactics while professionals talk of logistics."

"Here, old men dazed with blows watched the dying agonies of their murdered wives who clutched their children to their bleeding breasts; there, disemboweled girls who had been made to satisfy the natural appetites of heroes gasped their last sighs; others, half-burned, begged to be put to death. Brains were scattered on the ground among dismembered arms and legs."

On the battlefield. . ."

Before taking off their heads."

— Oliver Bingham

I dream, I dream, I dream."

— Walt Whitman, from "Old War-Dreams"

Unless her cause by right be justified."

— Lord Byron, from Don Juan

— General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

"I give orders only when they are necessary. I expect them to be executed at once and to the letter and that no unit under my command shall make changes, still less give orders to the contrary or delay execution through unnecessary red tape."

— Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

"The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask that he must make for himself, but a mask made in such form as will mark him to men of his time and place as the leader they want and need."

— John Keegan

"There is required for the composition of a great commander not only massive common sense and reasoning power, not only imagination, but also an element of legerdemain, an original and sinister touch, which leaves the enemy puzzled as well as beaten."

— Winston Churchill

"In all forms of warfare the loser is beaten in spirit before he is beaten in fact."

"I considered war to be an utter waste of my time and energy, since most wars involved people I did not know arguing about matters I did not care about in pursuit of goals that would not have any direct impact upon me."

— Peter David, from Sir Apropos of Nothing (p. 2)

"The worst thing about war is that so many people enjoy it."

"Believe it or not, I ran into far more goddamn snitches in Basic Training than I did in jail! A buncha brown-nosin’ toadies they were!"

— anonymous (RWT)

"One third, or 654 of 2054 American tanks used during Desert Storm, were equipped with (depleted) uranium armor plating, providing them with a tactical advantage, because the conventional Iraqi weapons would have no chance of penetrating them. But by their use, the American tank crews were exposed to whole-body gamma radiation, similar to X-rays emanating from the uranium armor. . . . (Furthermore,) external gamma radiation emitted from (depleted) uranium shells can be as high as 200 millirads per hour . . ."

— Dr. Helen Caldicott, from The New Nuclear Danger (pp. 151-152)

"Aerosol DU exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant with potential radiological and toxicological effects. Under combat conditions, the MEIs (most exposed individuals) are probably the ground troops that reenter a battlefield following the exchange of armor-piercing munitions, either on foot or motorized transport."

— an unnamed Army contractor in a report from July 1990

"Think of having your eyelid pierced with a pin or your sex organs split with a scalpel. Imagine the pain of having your teeth extracted — not by a dentist using an anesthetic, but by someone with a pocketknife and pliers. Now consider what your thoughts would be if you were exposed to those circumstances while you were unable to defend yourself; under supervision by enemy soldier."

— Dirk von Schrader, from Elementary Field Interrogation (p. 24)

"Lots of young soldiers these days put in a lot of time in the gym. All well and good, but physical fitness on its own is not enough. It’s time to sweep away the action-movie stuff; fantastic muscle tone and fancy gear is not going to save you in a firefight."

— Peter McAleese, from McAleese’s Fighting Manual (p. ix)

"A soldier’s energies may be excited to the point of hysteria because he knows he may be killed at any moment. If he is killed, he may panic and enter the body of the first accommodating living person he can find. The most suitable being is usually a nearby soldier . . . this happens often. The living warrior goes home after the war and finds himself doing things not in keeping with his personality. Because he has been involved in a war, his loved ones and therapist attribute his changed behavior to stress. It is not stress. It is the daily influence of another person, living right alongside the warrior’s body."

— Anderson Reed, from Shouting at the Wolf (p. 117)

"That sense of power, of looking down the barrel of a rifle at somebody and saying, ‘Wow, I can drill this guy.’ Doing it is something else too. You don’t necessarily feel bad; you feel proud, especially if it’s one on one, he has a chance."

— James Hebron, USMC Scout/Sniper

"All you do is move that finger so imperceptibly, just a wish flashing across your mind like a shadow, not even a full brain synapse, and poof! In a blast of sound and energy and light a truck or a house or even people disappear, everything flying and settling back into dust."

— William Broyles

"Killing itself could be seen as an act of carnival: combat gear, painted faces, and the endless refrain that men turn into ‘animals’ were the martial equivalent of the carnival mask. They enabled men to invert the moral order while still remaining innocent and committed to that order. . . . Carnivalesque rites of killing did not demand rejection of the law, but a reassertion of men’s commitment to rules against extreme violence. Transgression could be enjoyable because the law was well-respected. . . . Carnivalesque rites and fantasies drawn from a wide range of combat literature and films enabled combatants to refashion themselves as heroic warriors."

— Joanna Bourke, from An Intimate History of Killing (pp. 25, 30-31)

"Frighteningly, psychiatrists recognized that more men broke down in war because they were not allowed to kill than under the strain of killing."

— Joanna Bourke, from An Intimate History of Killing (p. 237)

"It was morally right to shoot an unarmed Vietnamese who was running, but wrong to shoot one who was standing or walking; it was wrong to shoot an enemy prisoner at close range, but right for a sniper at long range to kill an enemy soldier who was no more able than a prisoner to defend himself; it was wrong for infantrymen to destroy a village with white-phosphorus grenades, but right for a fighter pilot to drop napalm on it."

— from A Rumor of War, by Phillip Caputo (pp. 229-230)

"The rules of war are like the rules of the road: any honest and realistic person will expect them to be broken, but some drivers will commit more frequent and more serious violations than others, and there may be other drivers who very rarely offend."

— Kenneth Maddock

"The best warrior

leads without haste

fights without anger

overcomes without confrontation

He puts himself below

and brings out the highest in his men"

— Lao Tzu, from Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition (Star translation), Verse 68

"When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."

— from "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," by Randall Jarrell

"May you die with your boots on!"

"Martial arts are 80 percent baloney. That’s right, when it comes to real fighting, when it comes to a knock-down, drag-out, bite-your-face-off, do-anything-to-survive encounter with a highly motivated attacker, most martial arts systems and techniques are predominately useless. Yet they prosper. Self defense is big business, and business is good."

— Richard Ryan, from Master of the Blade (p. 11)

"There’s nothing wrong with the martial arts except that as normally instructed, they’re not the answer to surviving violence. . . . Parents ask me if their children should study martial arts. My answer is yes, but not for crime survival. Do it for pride in personal accomplishment, respect for others, ability to concentrate, unsurpassed balance, self-control, and development of self-discipline. It’s also a great way for a youngster to experience some physical pain — to learn what it is like to be hit, knocked down and get back up, to not give up. But the martial arts, as customarily taught, are not intended and do not work as a crime survival technique."

"Spirit first, technique second."

"The experienced fighter, along with the beginner, must always remember that knife attacks represent an extreme threat to life, a threat against which the greatest unarmed combat skills will be poor at best."

— James Loriega, from Sevillian Steel (p. 130)

"Why spend years training to fight experienced tournament fighters when that isn’t what you’re going to be running into in the real world?"

— Marc MacYoung, from A Professional’s Guide to Ending Violence Quickly (p. 138)

"Many people like to ‘dress up’ when they do their martial arts . . . The Chinese only wear uniforms when they do tournaments. This is obviously so that each team can be recognized easily. Apart from that, they do their martial arts in their normal clothes on the way to work, or on the way home, etc. The Chinese of old used to do their martial arts in the normal clothes of the time."

— Hapkido Master Ji Han Jae, on hand conditioning

"Make the opponent yours. Absorb and incorporate his thinking into your own. Become one with him so you know him perfectly and can be one step ahead of his every movement."

— Ueshiba Sensei

"If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in."

— Sun Tzu, from Art of War

"Never renew an attack along the same line or in the same form once it has been beaten back."

— David J. Rogers

"No fighter ever won his fight by covering up — by merely fending off the other’s blows. The winner hits and keeps on hitting even though he has to be able to take some stiff blows in order to be able to keep on hitting."

"With such safety equipment and body armor, one could take all kinds of ‘risks,’ diving in to strike while allowing the edge of te opponent’s ‘weapon’ to slide across the femoral artery or the back of the neck with no thought to the fatal injury one would suffer if dueling with real weapons. . . . Because there is no sense of danger or even a need to protect undesignated targets, many competitors do not move or respond in a natural way. Blows that would sever arms, disfigure, or even kill are ignored because they are not designated targets."

— Ellis Amdur, from Old School (pp. 203, 217)

". . . I always stress that there is a difference between the mat and the alley. In a dojo, nobody is going to ambush you, bust a chair across your teeth, or knock a trash can into your footwork. You can also pretty much count out the chance of getting chain-whipped. However, I speak from experience when I say these things do happen in alleys and bars."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Pool Cues, Beer Bottles, & Baseball Bats (pp. 2-3)

"The real problem with being on the ground with your opponent still standing is that, unlike in a dojo, your attacker isn’t going to stop. Either he is going to start kicking you (possibly with the help of his friends) or he’s likely to pick up a chair and try to swat you like a bug."

"In swordsmanship, always train and discipline yourself, but don’t show it — hide it, be modest about it."

"If you intend to carry a blade for defensive (as well as utilitarian) purposes, it is imperative that you learn how to make proper cuts. The only way one can perfect their cuts is to occasionally practice with a suitable training target. By far, the best target medium would be a fresh side of beef — but if such an item is not practical for you, a discarded exercise mat or carpet (rolled, taped, and stood vertically against the wall) works almost as well. If your cutting techniques are untested, it will be impossible for you ever to reach your full potential. Imaginary opponents can only get you so far."

"Weapons, such as knives, eliminate most grappling techniques. Try wrestling with an opponent wielding a Magic Marker and see how long you can avoid being turned into a piece of graffiti."

— from Attack Proof , by John Perkins, Al Ridenhour, and Matt Kovsky (p. 174)

"Another training technique is the puncturing of an orange. This may sound fairly simple, but pick up an orange and try sticking your finger into it. The flexibility of the orange gives it considerable strength. Now place two or three fingers closely together and, again, using psychokinesis or ki, project the fingers through the fruit. Strike very quickly, with the mind projecting force ahead of the strike."

— from The Warrior’s Edge, by Col. John B. Alexander, Major Richard Groller, and Janet Morris (p. 195)

"A knight cannot shine in war if he is has not prepared for it in tournaments. He must have seen his own blood flow, have had his teeth crackle under the blows of his adversary, have been dashed to the earth with such force as to feel the weight of his foe, and disarmed twenty times; he must twenty times have retrieved his failures, more set than ever upon the combat. Then he will be able to confront actual war with the hope of being victorious."

"The exercising of weapons putteth away aches, griefs, and diseases, it increaseth strength and sharpenth the wits, it giveth a perfect judgement, it expelleth melancholy, choleric, and evil conceits, it keepeth a man in breath, perfect health, and long life."

— George Silver, from Paradoxes of Defence (1599)

"Wax on, wax off . . ."

"Fighting is not combat! A fight can be many things, and occasionally it can escalate into combat, but it isn’t initially. Combat and fighting call for radically different mindsets. Often, a fight is used to settle disputes and to establish dominance. Combat has no rules. It is a fight to the death or the crippling of your opponent."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Cheap Shots, Ambushes, and Other Lessons (p. 12)

"Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. . . . (do) not think of victory or defeat."

"In Hollywood action movies, the fight scenes are full of exaggerated, flashy moves. Stunt people go bouncing off of springboards doing soaring kicks. Serious martial artists and police officers will tell you that, in real life, the best moves are the most subtle ones. The best moves are quick, hard to see, and devastatingly effective."

"ANYTIME YOU STEP INTO THE ARENA A PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT IT MAY NOT END UNTIL EITHER YOU OR YOUR OPPONENT, MAYBE BOTH, ARE DEAD. I don’t care if it’s just a warning slap to someone — it can escalate! Anytime you are tempted to resort to violence, this is the bottom line: if you ain’t ready to die for it or kill for it, don’t do it."

"Do yourself a favor and don’t bother hitting people in the mouth! The reason is two-fold. One, the mouth is backed up by bones. Bones are hard, and they hurt your hand. Second — and this is the real motive behind avoiding the mouth as a target — is that this is one of the dirtiest, most bacteria-riddled portions of the body. . . . If you hit someone in the mouth and cut your hand on his teeth, you can get seriously infected! I mean possibly hospital-time infected."

— General John Ross Delafield

". . . never underestimate how fast someone can attack you. When motivated, people can explode on you in a fraction of a second. Never take your eyes off an attacker even for an instant. . . . A person standing within arms’ reach of you (or closer) is in your kill zone. . . . At this distance, you have little or no time to react to an attack, especially if it is fast and non-telegraphic."

— Richard Ryan, from Master of the Blade (p. 17, 74)

"You should always conserve your energy, save a little in reserve in case a supreme effort is suddenly needed. Two essential aspects are inner calmness and a degree of self-awareness. Experienced martial artists learn to use economical movements. Often an experienced fighter in his 30s or 40s can hold his own against much younger, stronger opponents because of this factor."

— Robert K. Spear, from Survival on the Battlefield (p. 9)

"When a man’s fight begins within himself, he is worth something."

"Don’t fight a battle if you don’t gain anything by winning."

— General George S. Patton, Jr.

"Don’t go looking for a fight — but if you’re hit, deck the bastard."

"Precision is of the utmost importance when engaged in any sort of conflict. A carefully aimed pistol shot is typically far more effective than emptying an entire magazine from the hip; an accurate strike with a properly formed hand weapon usually does far more damage than a flurry of undirected blows; and a short factual statement consisting of carefully chosen words delivered in an appropriate tone will most likely elicit the desired response, whereas a mere exchange of taunts delivered with a rapid high-pitched voice will often prove counter-productive."

— anonymous (RWT)

"When it looks like the shit is going to hit the fan, you don’t want to be jacking your jaw. Keep your mouth shut and locked. Most broken jaws occur when the mouth is open."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws (p. 238)

"A fight is a sociological function, in which there are rules and limits. Combat is a free-for-all, where victory is awarded to the survivor. There are no rules; in combat, you do what you have to do to win. These things are as different as night and day. If you can’t differentiate between them, you can land in a heap of trouble. . . . Most situations are not combat; they are fights, and therefore less intense. So relax about it."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Cheap Shots, Ambushes, and Other Lessons (p. 6)

"Street fighters usually do not have any special stance or approach; they usually just come wading in. . . . Most street fighters have one or two special techniques which they have found from practical experience to be effective. They usually attempt one of these favored moves at the start of a fight, hoping to end it quickly and flashily. . . . A street fighter will rarely give up. If he does, he will probably attack again the moment you relax your vigilance."

— Joe Hyams, from Playboy’s Book of Practical Self-Defense (p. 52)

"Don’t be overconfident. There is always someone stronger or better than you, regardless of size or physical shape. . . . Some fat people have remarkably strong stomachs that can withstand the hardest blow you can throw. Some persons who appear frail are strong and supple as a willow. . . . It is foolhardy to think that because you are bigger and seem to be in better condition or have some fighting experience you can handle any situation or person. It is much wiser to assume that your opponent is more dangerous than you think. This is especially true when confronting a street fighter."

— Joe Hyams, from Playboy’s Book of Practical Self-Defense (p. 52-53)

"Reality is not a movie. You can’t withstand a barrage of blows like Clint Eastwood in an old western barroom brawl and remain standing. When an elbow is slammed into your neck, your neck breaks. When a fist is buried deep into your kidneys, you land in the hospital. Tightening your neck muscles won’t stop a chop to your throat, nor will closing your eyelids stop an eye gouge. It’s simply a joke to think the ability to do 500 sit-ups will protect your midsection. What muscles protect your ribcage?

— from Attack Proof , by John Perkins, Al Ridenhour, and Matt Kovsky (p. 46)

"Getting hit with an elbow is like getting hit with a baseball bat."

— from Attack Proof , by John Perkins, Al Ridenhour, and Matt Kovsky (p. 141)

"Three men can have a hard time fighting against one. They must train together or their rhythm is off, they get in one another’s way, they have to be careful not to attack a friend. The lone man has no such problems. Everyone is an enemy. The thought and the action are one."

— James D. Macdonald, from The Apocalypse Door (p. 188)

"Back off as much as possible, and never square off as though you are planning to attack. You should take your opponent by surprise. If a fight is inevitable and he’s within range, get off the first punch and make it effective."

— Bruce Lee

". . . as we know, the first rule of Unarmed Combat is to ‘arm yourself’ . . ."

"How people choose to defend themselves is as much a part of national character as literature, costumes or cooking."

STREETFIGHTING

"Commit yourself violently and totally. Attack to destroy. Never fight anybody on equal terms."

"The folowing actions are effective:  Pulling hair, tearing a lip, grasping and twisting (or tearing) the nose.  A grip with the point of thumb and forefinger, or bite, on the thick muscles that extend from the neck to the shoulder; a thumb and forefinger grip, or bite, across the breast muscles to the arm; kicking or biting the Achilles tendon back of the heel — all are effective."

— from Attack Proof , by John Perkins, Al Ridenhour, and Matt Kovsky (pp. 21-22)

"With his right hand he grabbed at the re-bar man’s face. His huge thumb slid into the man’s mouth between cheek and gum. He clenched his grip tightly and pulled viciously down. One side of the man’s face was torn open in a jagged, bloody line from ear to jaw."

— from Chain of Evidence by Michael Detroit (p. 230)

"Take a look at the way your ears are connected to the side of your head. They are glued on in an up and down direction. That’s how you want to try to take them off. . . . Straight down or past his chest is the angle you want to go for."

— Marc "Animal" MacYoung, from Floor Fighting (pp. 159-160)

"If you succeed in hooking two fingertips into your opponent’s nostrils, it is possible to peel his nose off his face by suddenly jerking it upwards, shearing the moorings. If you pull someone’s nose off, you’ll be able to see his tonsils."

"(He) taught me several tricks of waterfront fighting that were often useful. One was the so-called Liverpool Kiss, where you catch a man behind his neck and jerk his face down to meet your upcoming skull. Done properly it can obliterate, for the time being, a man’s features and make him less than anxious to pursue the argument."

"Kneeing him in the groin is okay, nothing wrong with biting, but gouging the eyes works best. . . . they are the most sensitive body part, requiring the least force from you. You don’t even have to touch someone’s eyes to produce a reflective movement."

— Sanford Strong, from Strong on Defense (p. 63)

"Bite a chunk out of his cheek, nose, or neck. I know these . . . pictures I am placing in your mind are ugly. Remember, you must be as uncivilized as he is for a few seconds in order to escape. . . . Pound for pound of square-inch power, nothing matches your jaw."

"Your teeth are a most effective natural weapon. If, for example, you are immobilized by a bear-hug, bite into your opponent’s shoulder. If a hand is over your mouth, bite it. If any portion of your opponent’s body is touching your face, bite hard."

— Joe Hyams, from Playboy’s Book of Practical Self-Defense (p. 27)

"A friend of mine was telling me about a bad fight that happened at the club he was DJing. About a half-dozen guys were cutting each other up with knives in the front of the room . . . real bad situation. Know how they broke it up? About fifty people started throwing forties (40 oz beer bottles) at them until they stopped! That’s some fucked up shit."

— The Chinaman (paraphrased)

"Put on your shitkickers and kick some shit!"

— House of Pain

KNIFEFIGHTING

"There is one unquestionable rule in knife fighting: never get into a knife fight. There are no winners in edged weapon contests — only losers to varying degrees."

— Fred Rexer, Jr.

"Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like? What would be the feeling of a real blade entering another man’s body? That initial resistance — and that sudden giving? The surprise on another man’s face!"

— "The Villainous Master" in By the Sword (1991)

"After massive bleeding (exsanguination) and infection, most deaths are caused by air in the bloodstream (embolism), suffocation (asphyxia), or collapsed lung (pneumothorax). Even if major arteries are cut and severe loss of blood ensues, an adult can remain fully conscious from two to thirty seconds . . . Even mortally wounded duelists were sometimes able to continue fighting effectively long enough to take the lives of those who had taken theirs. A stricken man frequently does not feel the full effects of his wound and, blinded with rage, may simply throw himself on his opponent with renewed fury."

— Richard Cohen, from By the Sword (pp. 286-287)

"After all, the weapon itself is designed for antagonistic combat. Its point can indeed be described only with the cliche’ of ‘needle-sharp.’ It will snag veins, arteries, and muscles on its path through the body, tearing them as the blade progresses. The resulting damage is a function of organs hit and depth of penetration. Given the anatomical variants of the opponent’s body, a deliberate attempt at an instant kill with a thrust into a ‘vital point’ could be compared with trying to impale an airborne fly hovering behind a curtain."

— Christopher Amberger, from Secret History of the Sword (p. 103)

"The untrained or poorly skilled knife user will stab and slash at anything offered him in the hope of seeing success. Any idiot can pick up a knife and engage in a free-for-all cutting spree. The expert knife player studies human anatomy with the intensity of a surgeon. The right strike at the right point is his goal. A fight can be concluded with a single shallow cut if it is delivered properly."

— Greg Walker, from Modern Knife Combat (p. 52)

"The key point of an effective slash is in the amount of contact made with the sharp edge of the blade. Conversely, the main point in thrusting is to have maximum power in the stabbing motion."

— Michael De Alba

"A slash (or cut) can be long and deep or short and shallow, depending upon the bladesman’s skill and the flow of the confrontation. Contrary to popular thought, slashes can be every bit as lethal as a thrust depending upon the target area affected. In most cases, however, the slash is meant to soften up the opponent through mental shock from being cut and physical trauma brought on by bleeding. Filipino knife philosophy offers a thought process of ‘three strikes and the man is down.’ The slash may commonly be used as the opening strike in such a scenario, with a second slash followed by a thrust completing the equation, or with a thrust inserted between two slashes."

— Greg Walker, from Modern Knife Combat (p. 20)

"Since the daga is very sharp and needle-pointed, the mere twisting of the wrist or the turning of the finger is all that is needed to inflict deep puncture wounds. . . . Fighting with the daga might as well be fighting with the empty hand. You will be well within punching, kicking, head-butting, and wrestling distance, so there is the great need for quick feet to vary distances abruptly."

— Amante Marinas, from Pananandata (p. 50)

"When I pin that foot — as well as shoving a knife into his eyeball — he loses his balance. He goes down very quickly. . . . A quick jab is all you need. We’re not trying to kill this adversary. We’re trying to dissuade him from attacking us further. To say that this is a humanitarian act — to puncture someone’s eye . . . is a little bit far-fetched. But compared to what you could do with a knife, yes — it is humanitarian. You are trying not to kill."

— James Keating, from the COMTECH video, Reverse Grip Knifefighting (0:34, 0:50)

"The knife, it must be remembered, is a universal phenomenon. It exists in some form or other in every culture of the world. When used for personal protection, the techniques for its deployment vary as much as one culture varies from another."

— James Loriega, from Sevillian Steel (p. 2)

"Don’t wait for him to attack! Pick up a light chair and rush him with it, lion-tamer fashion. Aim one foot of the chair at his throat and the opposite foot at his groin. The seat of the chair serves as a very reliable shield to protect you from the knife. Remember to thrust or charge with the legs of the chair. Don’t make the TV mistake of swinging the chair like an axe or club."

— N. Mashiro, Ph.D., from Black Medicine III (p. 118)

"Using a coat, leather jacket, smock, or a spare shirt to defend against a blade is certainly a practice as old as the blade itself. It would only be natural for the prehistoric hunter to armor himself with the skin of his prey."

"More than mere technique, he taught the spirit of the use of cold steel as a weapon of preference of a man of honor and a gentleman."

— G. Gordon Liddy, of Captain Stevens  

"Hand to hand combat with edged weapons is the most demanding of human physical combat. It not only demands the most skill, both physical and mental, it develops in the adept abilities that separates him from others and elevates intuition, reflexes, and technique to the highest degree . . . the emotional tie is stronger than for other weapons, and the training for its use strengthens spirit."

"If you’re considering training with weapons and are still deciding which one to master first, I’d recommend the butcher knife. The average butcher knife has a wicked 8" blade with a comfortable grip, good balance, and an integral hilt. Not only do they take a far better edge than most flea market fighting knives, but you can find one in virtually any home — just look in the kitchen. It’s easy to learn how to use it effectively, it’s legal to own, and it’ll command a lot more respect than a broomstick or a belt (as Charlie Manson once said, ‘Everybody’s afraid of gettin’ cut!’). Once you believe that you’ve nearly mastered the use of the butcher knife as a weapon, start training with one in either hand."

"A heavy knife is a club with a sharp edge. You chop with it. The feeling is like chopping at a piece of firewood with a hatchet. The heavy knife can cut or break bone where the light knife can only slice soft tissue."

— N. Mashiro, from Black Medicine, Vol. IV, Equalizers (p. 49)

"In close quarters fighting there is no more deadly weapon than the knife. An entirely unarmed man has no certain defense against it, and, further, merely the sudden flashing of a knife is frequently enough to strike fear into your opponent, causing him to lose confidence . . . A quick draw (an essential in knife fighting) can not be accomplished unless the sheath is firmly secured to the clothing or equipment. Moreover, speed on the draw can be accomplished only by constant daily practice."

— W. E. Fairbairn, from Get Tough! (p. 96)

"If you’re relying upon a 3" ‘tactical folder’ or a 2" ‘neck knife’ for personal defense, be sure you’re free of any grandiose delusions about your ‘weapon’s’ capabilities."

"When utilizing a knife without a proper guard — such as the balisong and many boot knives — it is advised that one ‘cap’ the pommel with one’s thumb if the knife is being grasped in the ‘reverse’ or ‘icepick’ grip. Although this may weaken the grip if the weapon is subjected to lateral pressure, it will effectively prevent one’s fingers from being sliced if the hand slides up over the blade after impacting bone."

— C. R. Jahn

". . . the greatest advantage of the edged weapon is that it need only touch you to do damage. Contact usually means cutting. . . . The edged weapon requires very little speed and even less strength to do its job. . . . When steel meets human flesh, flesh loses and a slash can open up large wounds. This is because the skin is somewhat elastic and, when severed, the tissue separates around the wound. . . . What would happen if you took a pin and popped a hole in (a garden) hose? You would instantly get a violent spray of water. If you were to slash the hose, the water would surge forth at a rapid rate. So it is with arteries. . . . Cut anything you can. Cut the hands, arms, legs, feet, face, body, anything you can reach, and especially the hand with the (weapon) in it."

— Richard Ryan, from Master of the Blade (p. 18, 45, 54, 100)

"When withdrawing the knife from a deep stab wound it is oftentimes difficult because the flesh of the body has a tendency to contract and grip the blade and suction adds to the problem and care should be taken not to snap the blade. If penetration was as deep as it should have been you may well require both hands to withdraw the knife. . . . Most experts say to leave the knife in but I don’t advocate it because it can be traced . . ."

— John Minnery, from How to Kill, Vol. I (p. 23)

"Be warned! The only way to know whether you are master of balisong is to fight with it — for real!"

"Once you’ve accepted your own death, you can become really proficient at killing because it is no longer important if you die."