Ryonin Shonin

The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries is a popular handbook in the Schlock Mercenary universe. The book's maxims are often quoted by Tagon, as well as other characters. The following is a list of the maxims found in Schlock Mercenary, ordered by maxim number.

1. Pillage, then burn.[1]
2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.[2]
3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.[3]
4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.[4]
5. Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart.[5]
6. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it. [6]
7. If the food is good enough, the grunts will stop complaining about the incoming fire.[7]
8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock.[8]
9. Never turn your back on an enemy. [9]
10. Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through the hull.[10]
11. Everything is air-droppable at least once. [11]
12. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head. [8]
13. Do unto others. [9]
14. "Mad Science" means never stopping to ask "what's the worst thing that could happen?" [12]
15. Only you can prevent friendly fire. [13]
16. Your name is in the mouth of others: be sure it has teeth. [8]
17. The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster. [14]
18. If the officers are leading from in front, watch out for an attack from the rear. [15]
19. The world is richer when you turn enemies into friends, but that's not the same as you being richer.[16]
20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win. [17]
21. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow. [18]
22. If you can see the whites of their eyes, somebody's done something wrong. [19]
23. The company mess and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart [20]
24. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a big gun. [21]
25. If the damage you do is covered by a manufacturers warranty, you didn't do enough damage.[22]
Amended: If a manufacturer's warranty covers the damage you did, you didn't do enough damage.[23]
26. "Fire and Forget" is fine, provided you never actually forget.[23]
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.[24]
28. If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you. [25]
29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.[24]
30. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.[24]
31. Only cheaters prosper.[26]
32. Anything is amphibious if you can get it back out of the water.[27]
33. If you're leaving tracks, you're being followed.[28]
34. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.[29]
35. That which does not kill you has made a tactical error.[30]
Amended: That which does not kill me has made a tactical error.[23]
36. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.[31]
37. There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload.'[32]
Amended: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "reload."[23]
38. Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it can't be hard on your clients.[33]
Amended: What's easy for you can still be hard on your clients.[23]
39. There is a difference between spare parts and extra [parts].[34]
40. Not all good news is enemy action. [35]
41. “Do you have a backup?” means “I can’t fix this.” [36]
42. "They'll never expect this" means "I want to try something stupid."
43. If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky.
44. If it will blow a hole in the ground, it will double as an entrenching tool. [37]
45. The size of the combat bonus is inversely proportional to the likelihood of surviving to collect it.[38]
46. Don’t try to save money by conserving ammunition.
47. Don't expect the enemy to cooperate in the creation of your dream engagement.[39]
48. If it ain't broke, it hasn't been issued to the infantry. [38]
49. Every client is one missed payment away from becoming a target [40] and every target is one bribe away from becoming a client.[23]
50. If it only works in exactly the way the manufacturer intended, it is defective.[23]
51. Let them see you sharpen the sword before you fall on it.[41]
52. The army you've got is never the army you want.[42] [23]
53. The intel you've got is never the intel you want. [42] [23]
54. The best way to win a one-on-one fight is to be the third to arrive.
Amended: It's only too many troops if you can't pay them.[23]
55. It's only too many weapons if they're pointing in the wrong direction.[23]
56. Infantry exists to paint targets for people with real guns.[23]
57. Artillery exists to launch large chunks of budget at an enemy it cannot actually see.[23]
58. The pen is mightiest when it writes orders for more swords.[23]
59. "Two wrongs is probably not going to be enough."[43]
60. Any weapon's rate of fire is inversely proportional to the number of available targets.[23]
61. Don't bring big grenades into small rooms.[44]
62. Anything labeled "This end toward enemy" is dangerous at both ends.[23]
63. The brass knows how to do it by knowing who can do it.[23]
64. An ounce of sniper is worth a pound of suppressing fire.
65. After the toss, be the one with the pin, not the one with the grenade.[23]
66. Necessity is the mother of deception.[23]
67. If you can't carry cash, carry a weapon.[23]
68. Negotiating from a position of strength does not mean you shouldn’t also negotiate from a position near the exits.
69. Sometimes rank is a function of firepower.[23]
70. Failure is not an option - it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.[45]