"On the offensive" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... operations—whether he will act on the defensive, or assume the offensive; if he is to act on the defensive, how and where will he base his forces, how far will he operate away from his own shores? And if he is to act on the offensive, what direction will his operations take; will he secure an advance base; and if so, where? And as the character of the enemy's operations will depend on the personnel of the enemy General Staff and of the ...
— The Navy as a Fighting Machine • Bradley A. Fiske
... enemy. Granting equal original fleet-speed, this was quite correct. D'Orvilliers, to windward, had no intention of fighting except on his own terms. As will generally be the case, the fleet acting on the offensive obtained its wish. At daybreak of the 27th both fleets were on the port tack, heading west-northwest, with a steady breeze at southwest (Plate IX., A, A, A).[121] The English rear (R) had fallen to leeward,[122] ...
— The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 • A. T. Mahan
... not have, as had the prisoners, their eyes opened to the vast preparations behind the British lines to carry on the offensive. Mostly the prisoners were amiable, peculiarly unlike the proud men taken in the early days of the war when confidence in their "system" as infallible was at its height. Yet there were exceptions. I saw an officer marching ...
— My Second Year of the War • Frederick Palmer
... they were constrained to act on the offensive, simply to ensure their own safety. They raised fortifications in several places outside the city, and many an unhappy Chinaman had to shoulder a weapon reluctantly with tears in his eyes. They were traders. ...
— The Philippine Islands • John Foreman
... fifteen minutes before the end of the game, and until I awoke hours later, lying in a drawing-room car, pulling into the Grand Central Station, my mind was a blank. Yet I am told the last fifteen minutes of the game I played well, especially when our line was going to pieces. I made several gains on the offensive, never missed a signal and punted two or three times when close ...
— Football Days - Memories of the Game and of the Men behind the Ball • William H. Edwards
... invaded) be always willing to contend; and such women as those I have described, are always ready to take the field, and are worse enemies than the old Parthians, who annoy most when they seem to retreat; and never fail to return to the charge again, and carry on the offensive war, till they have tired out resistance, and made the husband willing, like a vanquished enemy, to compound for small matters, in order to preserve something. At least the poor man does not care to let his ...
— Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded • Samuel Richardson
... curious that in London, where everyone is brave, only one man is needed to arrest another, whereas in my dear native land, where cowardice prevails, thirty are required. The reason is, perhaps, that the coward on the offensive is more afraid than the coward on the defensive, and thus a man usually cowardly is transformed for the moment into a man of courage. It is certain that at Venice one often sees a man defending himself against ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt |
