pargery

One man can intimidate a thousand men, if he's expecting to die.

...in a context of two individuals:...

If one is thinking of successfully killing the other to gain a reputation, while the other moves in relentlessly, considering the ground beneath his feet to be his grave, the difference between them is immense.

Mao Yen Yi said:

When swords cross you must be resolute and quick.

If you hesitate, that's the self-centered mind shrinking in fear, timidly retreating.

When you break through the self-centered attitude, then sure and swift courage and resolve spring up like a hungry hawk attacking a bird or a starving tiger seizing an animal.

Sun Tzu, the Sage of War, said:

I have heard of military actions that were clumsy but quick, whereas I have never seen any that were skillful yet took a long time.

Once thoughts are settled, your heart is strong and you advance and withdraw without hesitation.

-- Training the Samurai Mind by Thomas Cleary, Chapter 20

Cheery stopped. "But you've got only a sword and I haven't even got that."

"Don't worry, we won't need weapons."

"Oh, good."

"They wouldn't be any use."

"Oh."

-- 'North by Northwest' 1959

She seemed ok with that and held up her arms. I picked her up and was going to tell her to put her arms around my neck and hold on, but she immediately clamped onto me like a tentacled parasite in a horror show.

A supposedly true dramatization of a series of murders in an early asteroid colony. It was pretty good, if you weren't worried about becoming confused as to the actual existence or not of psychic monsters. I was not worried about that.