There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.
Duke Of WellingtonRead
Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.
Interpretation
Winning a battle brings its own sadness and reflection despite the apparent victory.
The quote by the Duke of Wellington suggests that even in victory, there can be deep sorrow and contemplation. While a lost battle is undoubtedly tragic, the pain associated with winning can stem from the realization of loss, sacrifice, and the heavy burdens that come with success. It highlights the complexity of human emotion in the face of achievements, where victory does not always equate to happiness.
In practice
In a discussion about the burdens of leadership during a team victory celebration.
There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guess what was at the other side of the hill'.
The whole art of war consists in getting at what is on the other side of the hill.
Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.
Next to a lost battle, nothing is so sad as a battle that has been won.
Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about any.
There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting.
Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone - except God.
Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower.
And so I learned that familiar paths traced in the dusk of summer evenings may lead as well to prison as to innocent untroubled sleep.
Worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see.
If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.
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