Most people imagine that Skill is to be attained merely from study; many believe it but the natural and necessary offshoot of long experience; and there are some of the opinion that dilettante dabbling in book lore is an all-sufficient substitute for that sustained and laborious mental and physical effort, which alone can make perfect in the competitive arts.
Only by employing his leisure in reflection upon the events of the Past can one get to understand those things which make for success in Warfare and in Chessplay, and develop that all-essential ability to detect equivalents in any situation.
For in action there is no time for such reflection, much less for development.
Then, moments of value inestimable for the achieving of results are not to be wasted in the weighing and comparison of things, whose relative importance should be discerned in the twinkling of an eye, by reason of prior familiarity with similar conditions.
The relative advantage in time possessed by one army over an opposing army always can be determined by the following, viz.:
RULE
- 1. That army which is in motion while the opposing army must remain stationary has the absolute advantage in Time.
- 2. That army which although at rest can dictate the movement of an opposing army in motion has the conditioned advantage in Time, i.e., the Initiative.
“One may lose more by letting slip a decisive opportunity than afterwards can be gained by ten battles.”—Gustavus Adolphus.