Suvorov Quotes

Every infantryman in the Soviet Army carries with him a small spade. When he is given the order to halt he immediately lies flat and starts to dig a hole in the ground beside him.

What is difficult in training will become easy in a battle

RED HEAD Tight, inhibited, results-oriented, anxious, aggressive, over-compensating, desperate. BLUE HEAD Loose, expressive, in the moment, calm, clear, accurate, on task. It’s what tennis coach Nick Bollettieri calls the ‘centipede effect’. If a centipede had to think about moving all its legs in the right order, it would freeze, the task too complex and daunting. The same is true of humans. Red is what Suvorov called ‘the Dark’. It is that fixated negative content loop of self-judgement, rigidity, aggression, shut down and panic. Blue is what he called ‘the Light’ – a deep calmness in which you are on task, in the zone, on your game, in control and in flow. It applies to the military; it applies to sport; it applies to business. In the heat of battle, the difference between the inhibitions of the Red and the freedom of Blue is the manner in which we control our attention. It works like this: where we direct our mind is where our thoughts will take us; our thoughts create an emotion; the emotion defines our behaviour; our behaviour defines our performance. So, simply, if we can control our attention, and therefore our thoughts, we can manage our emotions and enhance our performance.

Žvelgiu į jį, į savo pirmąjį agentą, užverbuotą užsienyje. Savo puikios šalies saugumą jis parduoda už trisdešimt sidabrinių. Man tai visai nepatinka. Aš tai darau todėl, kad neturiu kitos išeities. Toks likimas. jei ne čia, tai kitoje vietoje sistema man rastų žiaurų darbą. jei atsisakysiu, sistema mane praris. Nesu lasivas žmogus. Bet tu, šunsnuki, laisva valia veržiesi mums padėti. Jei būtum pasipainiojęs man tuomet, kai buvau Specnaze, aš tau, šliuže, dantis dilde būčiau nudildęs. Staiga prisimenu, kad agentams reikia šypsotis. Ir aš jam šypsausi.

Hard in training, easy in combat,” quipped great Russian military leader Alexander Suvorov.

Yuri walked down the gangway and onto the carpet, looking every inch the hero in his brand-new Major’s uniform and greatcoat, but Zoya immediately noticed something terrible. ‘I saw something dragging on the ground behind him. It was one of his shoelaces.’ Gagarin noticed it too, and spent the interminable ceremonial walk along the carpet silently praying that he would not trip over and make a fool of himself on this of all occasions. He told Valentin later that he had felt more nervous on the carpet than during the space flight. But he did not trip. Incidentally, the shoelace can be seen in the many commemorative films of the day’s events. The cosmonauts’ official cameraman, Vladimir Suvorov, noted in his diary the endless discussions later about whether or not to edit the film and remove the scenes showing the untied shoelace. Eventually, at Gagarin’s insistence, the shots were preserved as a sign of his ordinary, lovable humanity. The ‘mistake’ turned out to have its own special propaganda value.

Few Polish citizens left on the Praga side of the River Vistula were allowed to live. The burning of the bridge was fortuitous, however, for the Russians were held at bay, allowing the night to cool their red rage. In the morning, the English ambassador to Poland and the Papal Nuncio crossed the river and secured from Suvorov assurance that the capital would be taken peacefully.

where everyone was severely controlled by the government structures. From early childhood I was given firm instructions about what I was supposed to do, say, and even think. I was afraid to try anything new. However, I was very lucky to meet many incredible people in my life from whom I learned to dare to try everything I wanted. I absolutely have to tell you about Alexander Suvorov, whom I met several times and who became my hero and inspiration for many years. Suvorov became totally blind and deaf when he was three years old. Nevertheless, he was so eager to live his life to the fullest that he learned to

... only a country to which people flock by the thousands from all corners of the world, has the right to advise others how to live. And the country from which so many others break out, across its frontiers, in tanks, or fly away in the homemade balloons or in the latest supersonic fighter, or escape across mine-fields and through machine-gun ambushes, or give the slip to packs of guard-dogs, that country certainly has no right to teach anyone anything - at least not for the time being. First of all, put your own house in order. Try to create there such a society that people will not dig underground passages in order to escape. Only then shall we earn the right to teach others. And not with our tanks, but with good advice and our own personal example. Observe, admire, then go and imitate our example, if it pleases you.

Полковникът е шегаджия. За него всеки десантник гърлото ще ти прегризе. Не е проста работа да получиш такова уважение от тях. Подчиняват се на всеки по-горен началник, но не всеки уважават и хитрият като звяр диверсант знае хиляди начини за демонстриране на своето уважение или неуважение към командира си. А за какво уважават те Кравцов? Затова, че той не крие и не се опитва да скрие зверската си природа. Диверсантите са сигурни, че човешката природа е порочна и непоправима. Най-добре го знаят. Те рискуват всеки ден живота си и всеки ден имат възможност да наблюдават човека на границата на смъртта. И затова делят хората на добри и лоши. Добър, според техните разбирания, е онзи човек, който не крие звяра вътре в себе си. А онзи, който се старае да изглежда добър, той е опасен. Най-опасните хора са демонстриращите не само положителните си качества, но и вътрешно вярващите, че са добри. Отвратителният долен престъпник може да убие човек или десет души, или сто. Но престъпникът никога не убива милиони. Милиони убиват само онези, които се смятат за добри. Робеспиеровци стават не престъпниците, а най-добрите, най-хуманните хора. И гилотината е измислена не от престъпниците, а от хуманистите. Най-чудовищните престъпления в историята са извършили хора, които не са пили водка, не са пушили, не са изневерявали на жените си и са хранили катеричките с ръка. Момчетата, с които сега преживяме царевицата, са сигурни, че човек може да бъде добър само до определена граница. Ако животът ги притисне, добрите хора ще станат лоши и това може да се случи в най-неподходящия момент. За да не бъдат изненадани от такава промяна, по-добре да си нямат работа с добрите. По-добре е да имат работа с онези, които сега са лоши. Поне ще знаеш какво да очакваш от него, когато съдбата ти се озъби. В това отношение полковник Кравцов е свой човек за тях.

Accustom yourself to tireless activity...

He looked at me with a fleeting smile on his face. He knew I was right. And I looked at my first agent recruited abroad. He was ready to sell his beautiful country's security for thirty pieces of silver. I didn't like that at all. I was working in this field because I had no choice. It was fate. If not here, then in some other place where the Soviet system would have found me some equally disagreeable work. And if I had refused, the system would simply have devoured me. I was not a free man. But this fellow was rushing, of his own free will, to help us. If he had come up against me when I was in Spetsnaz I would have made such a Judas suffer. Then I remembered that I was supposed to smile at agents. So I smiled.

A famous Russian Field Marshal and opponent of Napoleon, Count Alexander V. Suvorov (1729–1800), once said, ‘Train hard and fight easy.’ It has become a famous Army quotation, often repeated. He got it spot on, especially where the SAS is concerned.

Addiction If some scientists believe that “if-then” motivators and other extrinsic rewards resemble prescription drugs that carry potentially dangerous side effects, others believe they’re more like illegal drugs that foster a deeper and more pernicious dependency. According to these scholars, cash rewards and shiny trophies can provide a delicious jolt of pleasure at first, but the feeling soon dissipates—and to keep it alive, the recipient requires ever larger and more frequent doses. The Russian economist Anton Suvorov has constructed an elaborate econometric model to demonstrate this effect, configured around what’s called “principal-agent theory.” Think of the principal as the motivator—the employer, the teacher, the parent. Think of the agent as the motivatee—the employee, the student, the child. A principal essentially tries to get the agent to do what the principal wants, while the agent balances his own interests with whatever the principal is offering. Using a blizzard of complicated equations that test a variety of scenarios between principal and agent, Suvorov has reached conclusions that make intuitive sense to any parent who’s tried to get her kids to empty the garbage. By offering a reward, a principal signals to the agent that the task is undesirable. (If the task were desirable, the agent wouldn’t need a prod.) But that initial signal, and the reward that goes with it, forces the principal onto a path that’s difficult to leave. Offer too small a reward and the agent won’t comply. But offer a reward that’s enticing enough to get the agent to act the first time, and the principal “is doomed to give it again in the second.” There’s no going back. Pay your son to take out the trash—and you’ve pretty much guaranteed the kid will never do it again for free. What’s more, once the initial money buzz tapers off, you’ll likely have to increase the payment to continue compliance. As Suvorov explains, “Rewards are addictive in that once offered, a contingent reward makes an agent expect it whenever a similar task is faced, which in turn compels the principal to use rewards over and over again.” And before long, the existing reward may no longer suffice. It will quickly feel less like a bonus and more like the status quo—which then forces the principal to offer larger rewards to achieve the same effect.

Here is why:  The Brest “Peace” meant millions of Russian soldiers were needed no longer.

When Hitler launched Operation “Barbarossa,” virtually all BT’s were abandoned.

He says it while Churchill is rejoicing war will not come,

Don't teach me how to live. I'm wicked now. I have money. But I'm magnanimous. I'll give you twenty rubles and three days to sack the city! I'm like Suvorov! Plunder the city, Kisa! Have fun!

The KGB “had its own terrorist apparatus, which includes an organization very similar to spetsnaz, known as osnaz,” according to Viktor Suvorov, a former Soviet military intelligence officer. Their ruthlessness was later attested to by a particular mission in the early 1980s. KGB osnaz agents opened the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by storming the presidential palace in Kabul and assassinating all government officers, their families, and the civilian staff. In 1968, as the new chairman of the KGB, Andropov was directly in charge of the osnaz units, which were reserved for only the highest-priority, most secret operations of the organization.