When you are weaker, never fight for honor's sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recoup your strength, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you — surrender first. By turning the other cheek you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.
Direct cousin of Machiavelli's well-used-cruelty. Where Machiavelli says commit to a position cleanly, give yourself the aftershocks, Greene says surrender cleanly, give yourself the timing. The synthesis: when you have an asset, commit fully (Machiavelli); when you don't have the asset, surrender cleanly (Greene); the same jaw, two functions.
The dissociation between submission and defeat. Surrender preserves the asset; defeat destroys it. A losing fight's only guaranteed outcome is full loss. Time is the operator's friend in weakness; surrender buys it. See concept/well-used-cruelty: dignity is less compound than position.
well-used-cruelty. Where Machiavelli says commit to a position cleanly, give yourself the aftershocks, Gr…
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