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* In the ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' book ''Big Shot'', after Greg's basketball team has a disastrous season, Susan tries to convince Coach Patel to keep going by entering a Second Chance Tournament. Mr. Patel tells Susan that Greg's team is hopeless at basketball and he's not willing to put them through any more misery. Susan won't let it go and enters the team any ways and becomes the coach.
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** Knowing when to do this but your enemies not giving a damn anymore spelled the end for Aegon's ally, Sir Criston Cole. Knowing his army was completely outnumbered and the war was lost, Cole asked for a retreat so his men would be unharmed, and he would duel his enemy commanders in a TrialByCombat. Unfortunately for Cole, said enemies completely hated his guts and largely blamed him for the entire war. Cole was denied his knightly death courtesy of being riddled by arrows, and hundreds of said men were slaughtered in the attempted retreat.
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** Normally, the Free Folk/Wildlings refuse to kneel to anyone. When their King Beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder, is defeated, his sister-in-law, Val, chooses to kneel when she is taken prisoner, deciding she wants to live.
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* ''Literature/TressOfTheEmeraldSea'': Faced with the protagonist, a pirate crew, and a [[SuperEmpowering newly empowered]] Hoid, [[BigBad the Sorceress]] decides to leave the planet. Hoid notes that the odds were still in her favour, but she didn't [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld get to be centuries old]] by taking unnecessary risks.
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Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
** Roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's army. He is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
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** Roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and [[VoluntaryVassal wisely bent the knee knee]] as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's army. [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten He is forever remembered remembered]] as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
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* ''Literature/TeenPowerInc'': The villain of ''Photo Finish'' is perfectly willing to try to kill Tom, but retreats with a cry of rage after Tom throws evidence out the window, into the crowded streets below, meaning that killing Tom won't hide the culprit's identity. Unfortunately for said culprit, the police are guarding the exit.
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** In ''The Invasion'', when Visser Three was killing Elfangor, Jake picked up a metal pipe and tried to stop him. His friends talked him out of it, pointing out they would only get themselves killed.
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* ''Literature/{{Dispatches}}'', a Vietnam War memoir by reporter Michael Herr:
** The photographer Tim Page was prepared to go to dangerous places to get pictures, and suffered a series of increasingly severe injuries. He decided that his luck had run out after getting a piece of shrapnel in his brain. (He went from “going to die” to “live, but paralysed on his left side” to a full recovery).
** None of Herr’s friends wanted to stay too long, because “we all knew that if you stayed too long you became one of those poor bastards who had to have a war on all the time, and where was that?”
** The photographer Tim Page was prepared to go to dangerous places to get pictures, and suffered a series of increasingly severe injuries. He decided that his luck had run out after getting a piece of shrapnel in his brain. (He went from “going to die” to “live, but paralysed on his left side” to a full recovery).
** None of Herr’s friends wanted to stay too long, because “we all knew that if you stayed too long you became one of those poor bastards who had to have a war on all the time, and where was that?”
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* ''Literature/ProfessorMoriartySeries'': Sherlock Holmes's story about throwing Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls is a complete lie, which he made up due to how [[CombatPragmatist Moriarty brought three armed henchmen to his showdown with Holmes and gave him the choice between fighting all of them or faking both of their deaths.]]
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Changed line(s) 41,44 (click to see context) from:
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Alicent brought to her in chains. Alicent suggests if Rhaenyra wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Alicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Alicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Alicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Alicent brought to her in chains. Alicent suggests if Rhaenyra wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Alicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Alicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Alicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
to:
** Happens Happened to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go went nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes Rhaenys went missing. Eventually Dorne sends sent a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops stopped trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is was brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyratakes took King's Landing, and has had Queen Alicent Hightower brought to her in chains. Alicent suggests suggested if Rhaenyra wants wanted a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Alicent's kids get got the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers offered another choice -- give up or die. Alicent chooses chose to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do thiscauses caused the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is was depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't had couldn't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest suggested surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will would let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Alicent speaks spoke up and suggests suggested that he instead start started cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides decided that's a fantastic idea, but before he can could do it, catches caught a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have had gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison poisoned him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryenproves proved to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is was quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know knew of), they think thought maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects rejected their first choice of husband, and is was locked up. The next morning, it turns turned out she's escaped, and by the time they find found her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw threw up their hands and decide decided it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen
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* ''Literature/FireAndBlood:''
** Happens a lot during Aegon's Conquest, especially once word of what the dragons can do gets around. The last Stark king is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Allicent brought to her in chains. Allicent suggests if Rhae wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Allicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Allicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Allicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
** Happens a lot during Aegon's Conquest, especially once word of what the dragons can do gets around. The last Stark king is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Allicent brought to her in chains. Allicent suggests if Rhae wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Allicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Allicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Allicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's army.
to:
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', roughly ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North'sarmy.army. He is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
** The Targaryen conquest of the Vale also ended like this. Unlike the North, the Arryns took up arms against Aegon at first, thinking that the mountainous terrain of the Vale would protect them, but they didn't account for the dragons, who could and did fly anywhere. And the King of the Vale at the time, Ronnel Arryn, happened to be a little boy. So when Queen Visenya rode Vhagar to the Eyrie and found little Ronnel, she offered to let him fly atop Vhagar. Ronnel's mother, who had just returned from organizing an army, saw her son with a huge dragon by side, and decided to yield to Aegon immediately. Ronnel is today remembered as "The King Who Flew".
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Alicent brought to her in chains. Alicent suggests if Rhaenyra wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Alicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Alicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Alicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
** Roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's
** The Targaryen conquest of the Vale also ended like this. Unlike the North, the Arryns took up arms against Aegon at first, thinking that the mountainous terrain of the Vale would protect them, but they didn't account for the dragons, who could and did fly anywhere. And the King of the Vale at the time, Ronnel Arryn, happened to be a little boy. So when Queen Visenya rode Vhagar to the Eyrie and found little Ronnel, she offered to let him fly atop Vhagar. Ronnel's mother, who had just returned from organizing an army, saw her son with a huge dragon by side, and decided to yield to Aegon immediately. Ronnel is today remembered as "The King Who Flew".
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Alicent brought to her in chains. Alicent suggests if Rhaenyra wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Alicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Alicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Alicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
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** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Thrawn knows when a battle has been lost and, unlike [[CardCarryingVillain most Imperial commanders]], withdraws without wasting his men -- sure, [[WeHaveReserves he's got reserves]], but why spend them without a need? Pellaeon, back during the Battle of Endor, had found himself to be the highest-ranked survivor and had ordered the retreat.
--->'''Thrawn''': "You were expecting, perhaps, that I'd order an all-out attack? That I would seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of false and futile heroics?"\\
--->'''Thrawn''': "You were expecting, perhaps, that I'd order an all-out attack? That I would seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of false and futile heroics?"\\
to:
** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'':
*** In the backstory, Pellaeon was the only Imperial commander at the Battle of Endor with the presence of mind to order a retreat. Despite several higher-ranking officers still being alive at Endor, Pellaeon's order was obeyed, because those higher-ranking officers were too panicked to countermand him. At the end, [[spoiler:when Thrawn dies, he does the same]].
*** Thrawn knows when a battle has been lost and, unlike [[CardCarryingVillain most Imperial commanders]], withdraws without wasting his men -- sure, [[WeHaveReserves he's got reserves]], but why spend them without a need? Pellaeon, back during the Battle of Endor, had found himself to be the highest-ranked survivor and had ordered the retreat.
--->'''Thrawn''': ---->'''Thrawn''': "You were expecting, perhaps, that I'd order an all-out attack? That I would seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of false and futile heroics?"\\
*** In the backstory, Pellaeon was the only Imperial commander at the Battle of Endor with the presence of mind to order a retreat. Despite several higher-ranking officers still being alive at Endor, Pellaeon's order was obeyed, because those higher-ranking officers were too panicked to countermand him. At the end, [[spoiler:when Thrawn dies, he does the same]].
*** Thrawn knows when a battle has been lost and, unlike [[CardCarryingVillain most Imperial commanders]], withdraws without wasting his men -- sure, [[WeHaveReserves he's got reserves]], but why spend them without a need? Pellaeon, back during the Battle of Endor, had found himself to be the highest-ranked survivor and had ordered the retreat.
Changed line(s) 53,54 (click to see context) from:
** This then comes up again at the end of the trilogy. [[spoiler:Once Thrawn is assassinated, Pellaeon realizes the Imperial forces will not be able to defeat the New Republic without Thrawn's tactical genius. So he orders a retreat rather than needlessly waste lives]].
** During the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, Pellaeon was the one to look at his [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] and decide to [[PeaceConference make peace with the New Republic]], ending the war.
** During the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, Pellaeon was the one to look at his [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] and decide to [[PeaceConference make peace with the New Republic]], ending the war.
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**
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[[KnowWhenToFoldEm Knowing when to fold 'em]] in {{Literature}}.
----
* ''Literature/AlphaAndOmega:'' Having seen the attempts to stop the Temple from being rebuilt backfire, the Grand Mufti calls off further attempts, reasoning that, for whatever reason, Allah intends for the project to go forward.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** At the end of the final battle, after it becomes clear that Tom plans to kill Visser One using his own personal Blade ship, the visser essentially surrenders to the kids once they arrive on the bridge.
** Once the Controllers on-board the Pool ship realize what has happened, they surrender to the kids in exchange for amnesty and a chance to acquire the morphing power (to permanently morph animals and move away from parasitism). The surrendered Yeerks got off quite well, all things considered.
** In ''The Capture'' this is revealed to be a major tenet of Yeerk psychology: Yeerks will give up when the odds don't favor them rather that fight against impossible odds as humans do. This semi-defeatist mindset is presented to explain away the BondVillainStupidity of Jake's Yeerk, but later books are consistent with this, as it comes up again in ''Visser'' and ''The Answer''.
* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' examines this trope with Dagny's obstinate refusal to abandon Taggart Transcontinental as a lost cause, despite all the evidence of its decline and predictions of its imminent demise (which turn out to be true). Dagny is eventually convinced to leave it all behind, but Eddie Willers never learns to leave the dying railroad/dying world and presumably dies with it.
* In the ''Literature/CherubSeries'', this is part of the recruiting process for CHERUB. The potential recruit will be given an extremely difficult task. Succeeding anyway is obviously good, but what they're actually looking for is the ability for recruits to assess a situation and determine if it's a bad idea to try in the first place. In James's case they do it twice, first they have him fight another teenager who's trained in martial arts and, after getting beaten in the first round, he gives up. After that they give him a task to retrieve a brick from the bottom of a pool, knowing he has a fear of water, which he refuses to do. In both instances this was what they wanted.
* Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/CharmedLife'' has a garden that stays the same distance away no matter how long you travel towards it. It is bespelled so as to be inaccessible to people trying to reach it, so those trying to enter only succeeded when they had given up on doing so.
* This trope may be the single great reason Literature/CiaphasCain has survived as long as he has: in a universe where pretty much everything wants to eat your face and your enemies are without number, he is fully capable of recognizing when it's time to get the hell out of Dodge. Two incidents in particular are noteworthy. In both ''Caves of Ice'' and ''Cain's Last Stand'', Cain is going head-to-head with the enemies of the Imperium in a desperate defensive battle... right up until he finds out that the [[TheDreaded Necrons]] have entered the fray, at which point he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere immediately and completely retreats.]] Even the Inquisition representative who debriefs him admits that he just would've gotten the entire regiment killed if he'd tried to hold his ground.
* A ''Series/DoctorWho'' short story, ''Useless Things'', involves an alien invasion arrive on Earth, notice a police box on the street corner, realize that this is the calling card of the Doctor, who has a history of soundly defeating alien invaders like themselves, and wisely decide to get the hell out of Dodge as fast as possible. It's subverted; minutes after they leave, workmen arrive and remove what turns out to be an ''actual'' police box, the last of its kind to be removed in Britain.
* The mountain in ''The Farthest-Away Mountain'', which would always stay the same distance away as long as you kept going toward it. You had to turn around and go the other way to get there.
* ''Literature/FireAndBlood:''
** Happens a lot during Aegon's Conquest, especially once word of what the dragons can do gets around. The last Stark king is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Allicent brought to her in chains. Allicent suggests if Rhae wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Allicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Allicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Allicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
* In Meredith Ann Pierce's ''Literature/TheFirebringerTrilogy'', the greatest and most legendary figure in the history of the unicorns is the princess Halla. Four hundred years before the events of the books Halla's people's lands were invaded by wyverns, first in secret, then in open warfare. When it becomes clear that the wyverns are too dangerous to continue fighting (they have poisonous stings and what amounts to armor under the skin), Halla orders the unicorns to withdraw and leave their lands to the wyverns until the time comes that the unicorns are capable of meeting them in more evenly matched combat. The main character of the Trilogy's been raised on her story all his life, but still can't quite stomach the part of the legend where Halla orders the retreat for the sake of survival.
* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': Jay Gatsby's FatalFlaw and the downside of his own great capacity for Hope is his inability to move on. He continues to cling to the hope that Daisy will one day be with him so that he can have the HappyEnding he had wanted for so long. It doesn't happen.
* A mark of a good officer in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series is knowing when it's best to do this. A clear line is drawn between knowing when to fold 'em, knowing when you ''can't'' fold and must [[HeroicSacrifice fight until the end]], and doing the latter to avoid being seen as a coward for doing the former.
** A specific instance occurs in ''Echoes of Honor.'' A surprise Havenite attack catches the less than competent Rear Admiral Elvis Santino completely flat-footed. His operations officer, Andrea Jaruwalski, tries to get him to fold, surrendering the system they don't need in the face of a vastly superior force. Santino responds by relieving Jaruwalski of her position and sending her away with enough of a black spot on her record to sabotage her career, then calling up his command to meet the Havenite attack. Santino's command is mostly destroyed while Jaruwalski eventually has her career salvaged with the help of Honor Harrington herself.
** Conflicts with the Solarian League, in which the Manticoran forces are so much more advanced technologically they can {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} vastly more numerous Solarian forces with ease, often feature the Manticorans trying to get the Solly commanders to realize they need to do this. The success rate varies depending on how TooDumbToLive the arrogant Solarian commanders are.
* ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober''. The Soviet admiral orders the fleet to avoid harassing the Americans after a heavy cruiser is subjected to a mock attack. He knows the Soviet navy is wasting time that is needed to find the Red October and will be destroyed if the Americans decide to attack for real. The American admiral later says: "they make the first move, we up the ante, they just plain fold."
* ''{{Literature/Jingo}}'' appears to feature this, with Vetinari surrendering to Klatchian forces and giving them huge advantages in exchange for letting them all go home, with the treaty to be signed on the island of Leshp. [[spoiler:A week or so later, as Vetinari is on trial for treason, he innocuously asks what treaty they're talking about, since it needed to be signed on Leshp, which has just sunk back under the ocean.]]
* In the Literature/LeftBehind book ''Glorious Appearing'', a good deal of the Global Community armed forces not situated in the Holy Land at the time of the battle of Armageddon, who realize that they are without any resources coming from New Babylon to make sure they're paid (all because said city is destroyed), decide that they might as well quit even though they face a court martial for doing so.
* ''Literature/MobyDick'': Captain Boomer lost his arm to Moby Dick, but unlike Ahab is smart enough to realize going for round two isn't a good idea and just moved on.
* The children's book ''Literature/NuddyNed'' has the title character decide to run around naked in public, with his parents desperately trying to get their son to put clothes on. In the end, they concede that they can't get their son to change his opinion on nudity and even start joining him in running around naked.
* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Marie Durocher's binding class, in which she releases a dangerous bound Other that threatens to kill all the students and leaves it to her apprentice to restrain it, is intended to teach this lesson:
-->'''Durocher''': I told you the right answer early on. If you face something this big and you’re not certain of what it is and how to deal with it, you should question how you got to that position. The first rule of self preservation, even if you’re as capable as I, Mr. Belanger, Mr. Sunshine, Mr. Bristow, or Mr. Musser are, is that you should run when outmatched.
* ''Literature/RWBYBeforeTheDawn'' reveals a strong connection of this trope with RunOrDie: once Beacon was attacked by the huge Grimm army, Nolan decided he was better off fleeing the place. As a result, he's the SoleSurvivor of his team, as the other three died in the battle, leading to strong SurvivorsGuilt.
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'': The titular character will try and avoid a battle he can't win, and retreat when he gets his ass kicked, if only to return in force and take revenge.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Violet realizes that their climb to the ascending hot air balloon in ''The Vile Village'' is dangerous and forces her siblings back to the ground so they won't get hurt, even though the Quagmires are on the balloon and it is designed never to return to ground.
* In ''Literature/ShamanBlues'', when the Old Ones see Vulture basically blow the afterlife's door wide open to rescue Witkacy, they wisely decide to give up on attempting to claim their "prize" and retreat.
* ''[[Literature/SisterhoodSeries Sisterhood]]'' series by Creator/FernMichaels: Owen Orzell in ''Home Free'' knew that he had no chance of winning once the Vigilantes caught him. As bonus points, he reveals that he gambles, tries to be very careful not to get addicted, and so he would clearly understand this trope very well.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's army.
* The Creator/DianeDuane novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', combined with the story to which it is a sequel, teaches this. The BigBad begins brooding over things not going precisely according to plan. The attempt to fix this undoes all accomplishments from the last time and the BigBad ends up in prison.
* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Kobayashi Maru'', this is essentially Sulu's resolution. He decides the whole thing is a trap and elects not to enter the Neutral Zone.
* In ''Literature/ThisImmortal'', the reasoning behind Conrad's leaving his identity as Konstantin Karaghiosis and the [[LaResistance Returnist movement]] behind was that there comes a point when one's achieved what one could achieve and it's time to move on. Dos Santos and especially Diane, who figures out Conrad's former identity, disagree.
* The Thrawn books, by Creator/TimothyZahn:
** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Thrawn knows when a battle has been lost and, unlike [[CardCarryingVillain most Imperial commanders]], withdraws without wasting his men -- sure, [[WeHaveReserves he's got reserves]], but why spend them without a need? Pellaeon, back during the Battle of Endor, had found himself to be the highest-ranked survivor and had ordered the retreat.
--->'''Thrawn''': "You were expecting, perhaps, that I'd order an all-out attack? That I would seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of false and futile heroics?"\\
'''Pellaeon''': "Of course not."\\
'''Thrawn''': "We haven't been defeated, Captain. Merely slowed down a bit."
** This then comes up again at the end of the trilogy. [[spoiler:Once Thrawn is assassinated, Pellaeon realizes the Imperial forces will not be able to defeat the New Republic without Thrawn's tactical genius. So he orders a retreat rather than needlessly waste lives]].
** During the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, Pellaeon was the one to look at his [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] and decide to [[PeaceConference make peace with the New Republic]], ending the war.
* The smarter villains in the Expanded Universe have this as part of their ''modus operandi''. Zsinj in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Solo Command]]'' even mentions avoiding "[[SunkCostFallacy throwing good money after bad]]" when invoking this trope.
** The novel ''The Bacta War'' has a variant. When told that his defeat is now inevitable by Wedge Antilles, the commander of the ''Lusankya'' refuses to give in, and decides to ColonyDrop his ship on a nearby planet as a final fuck you to the New Republic. One of his bridge officers then shoots him, takes command, and declares that he's willing to surrender if the Republic fleet is willing to tow the wreck of his ship into a higher orbit so that it won't crash of its own accord.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' Lazarus Long ascribes his survival for over 2300 years largely to the practical application of this kind of common sense, and the one time he fails at it is the time Death nearly catches up to him.
* This is the hat of the Raven Guard in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. In the Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''Deliverance Lost'', Corax specifically states that because his legion is smaller than the others, they would not survive a mass frontal assault on the traitor forces, and must rely on hit and run attacks.
* A continuing theme in Kelley Armstrong's ''[[Literature/TheOtherworld Women of the Otherworld]]'' series is that sometimes you have to abandon an ambition in order to achieve other ambitions and/or live a fulfilling life. The main character of "Bitten", the first book, spends her character development deciding which of her conflicting desires to pursue and which to abandon. In later books, the trope is more subtle, but still reoccurs often.
* In Creator/LFrankBaum's ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' as a subtext -- the Lion is deeply afraid of the Kelidas roaming the forest, and does his best to avoid them... but the fact that they're twice his size and have the heads of tigers and the bodies of bears suggests that avoiding them might be the smart thing to do until you can find a better way of handling it, which the Lion does with the help of Dorothy and her friends.
----
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[[KnowWhenToFoldEm Knowing when to fold 'em]] in {{Literature}}.
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* ''Literature/AlphaAndOmega:'' Having seen the attempts to stop the Temple from being rebuilt backfire, the Grand Mufti calls off further attempts, reasoning that, for whatever reason, Allah intends for the project to go forward.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** At the end of the final battle, after it becomes clear that Tom plans to kill Visser One using his own personal Blade ship, the visser essentially surrenders to the kids once they arrive on the bridge.
** Once the Controllers on-board the Pool ship realize what has happened, they surrender to the kids in exchange for amnesty and a chance to acquire the morphing power (to permanently morph animals and move away from parasitism). The surrendered Yeerks got off quite well, all things considered.
** In ''The Capture'' this is revealed to be a major tenet of Yeerk psychology: Yeerks will give up when the odds don't favor them rather that fight against impossible odds as humans do. This semi-defeatist mindset is presented to explain away the BondVillainStupidity of Jake's Yeerk, but later books are consistent with this, as it comes up again in ''Visser'' and ''The Answer''.
* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' examines this trope with Dagny's obstinate refusal to abandon Taggart Transcontinental as a lost cause, despite all the evidence of its decline and predictions of its imminent demise (which turn out to be true). Dagny is eventually convinced to leave it all behind, but Eddie Willers never learns to leave the dying railroad/dying world and presumably dies with it.
* In the ''Literature/CherubSeries'', this is part of the recruiting process for CHERUB. The potential recruit will be given an extremely difficult task. Succeeding anyway is obviously good, but what they're actually looking for is the ability for recruits to assess a situation and determine if it's a bad idea to try in the first place. In James's case they do it twice, first they have him fight another teenager who's trained in martial arts and, after getting beaten in the first round, he gives up. After that they give him a task to retrieve a brick from the bottom of a pool, knowing he has a fear of water, which he refuses to do. In both instances this was what they wanted.
* Creator/DianaWynneJones's ''Literature/CharmedLife'' has a garden that stays the same distance away no matter how long you travel towards it. It is bespelled so as to be inaccessible to people trying to reach it, so those trying to enter only succeeded when they had given up on doing so.
* This trope may be the single great reason Literature/CiaphasCain has survived as long as he has: in a universe where pretty much everything wants to eat your face and your enemies are without number, he is fully capable of recognizing when it's time to get the hell out of Dodge. Two incidents in particular are noteworthy. In both ''Caves of Ice'' and ''Cain's Last Stand'', Cain is going head-to-head with the enemies of the Imperium in a desperate defensive battle... right up until he finds out that the [[TheDreaded Necrons]] have entered the fray, at which point he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere immediately and completely retreats.]] Even the Inquisition representative who debriefs him admits that he just would've gotten the entire regiment killed if he'd tried to hold his ground.
* A ''Series/DoctorWho'' short story, ''Useless Things'', involves an alien invasion arrive on Earth, notice a police box on the street corner, realize that this is the calling card of the Doctor, who has a history of soundly defeating alien invaders like themselves, and wisely decide to get the hell out of Dodge as fast as possible. It's subverted; minutes after they leave, workmen arrive and remove what turns out to be an ''actual'' police box, the last of its kind to be removed in Britain.
* The mountain in ''The Farthest-Away Mountain'', which would always stay the same distance away as long as you kept going toward it. You had to turn around and go the other way to get there.
* ''Literature/FireAndBlood:''
** Happens a lot during Aegon's Conquest, especially once word of what the dragons can do gets around. The last Stark king is forever remembered as "The King Who Knelt", but not a single Northerner gets toasted by Aegon's dragons. Surrendering also meant that the Starks got to keep their rule of the North (albeit as "Lord Paramount" instead of King), this allowed the North to go through less cultural upheaval than the other kingdoms. Pretty fair price to pay, all told.
** Happens to Aegon himself a little later on, though, with Dorne. His attempts to conquer it go nowhere, and his beloved sister-wife goes missing. Eventually Dorne sends a letter to him. Whatever the contents, he immediately stops trying to burn them down immediately, and an uneasy peace is brokered between Dorne and the rest of Westeros.
** During the Dance of the Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, and has Queen Allicent brought to her in chains. Allicent suggests if Rhae wants a crown, when she was her father's named choice of heir, then they could split Westeros in two (Allicent's kids get the "good" parts, obviously). Rhaenyra offers another choice -- give up or die. Allicent chooses to give up.
** ''Not'' knowing when to do this causes the death of Aegon II. Having killed Rhaenyra and taken the crown, his army is depleted and losing, and whatever loyalists he has can't get there in time. Some of his councilors suggest surrendering, and hoping Rhaenyra's son Aegon will let him join the Night's Watch. According to the records, Aegon II was giving it serious consideration... until his mother, Queen Allicent speaks up and suggests that he instead start cutting young Aegon to pieces as a warning. Aegon II decides that's a fantastic idea, but before he can do it, catches a sudden case of dead, because his councilors have gotten so ''fed up'' of the whole mess, and poison him themselves.
** During the regency of Aegon III, Baela Targaryen proves to be a handful for the regents. When they're worried about the line of succession (since Aegon is quite young, and there's a DecadentCourt around, and no other male heirs they know of), they think maybe it's time to marry Baela off. She rejects their first choice of husband, and is locked up. The next morning, it turns out she's escaped, and by the time they find her, she's already married her cousin, Alyn Velaryon. At this point, the regents throw up their hands and decide it's best just to act like that was the plan all along.
* In Meredith Ann Pierce's ''Literature/TheFirebringerTrilogy'', the greatest and most legendary figure in the history of the unicorns is the princess Halla. Four hundred years before the events of the books Halla's people's lands were invaded by wyverns, first in secret, then in open warfare. When it becomes clear that the wyverns are too dangerous to continue fighting (they have poisonous stings and what amounts to armor under the skin), Halla orders the unicorns to withdraw and leave their lands to the wyverns until the time comes that the unicorns are capable of meeting them in more evenly matched combat. The main character of the Trilogy's been raised on her story all his life, but still can't quite stomach the part of the legend where Halla orders the retreat for the sake of survival.
* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': Jay Gatsby's FatalFlaw and the downside of his own great capacity for Hope is his inability to move on. He continues to cling to the hope that Daisy will one day be with him so that he can have the HappyEnding he had wanted for so long. It doesn't happen.
* A mark of a good officer in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series is knowing when it's best to do this. A clear line is drawn between knowing when to fold 'em, knowing when you ''can't'' fold and must [[HeroicSacrifice fight until the end]], and doing the latter to avoid being seen as a coward for doing the former.
** A specific instance occurs in ''Echoes of Honor.'' A surprise Havenite attack catches the less than competent Rear Admiral Elvis Santino completely flat-footed. His operations officer, Andrea Jaruwalski, tries to get him to fold, surrendering the system they don't need in the face of a vastly superior force. Santino responds by relieving Jaruwalski of her position and sending her away with enough of a black spot on her record to sabotage her career, then calling up his command to meet the Havenite attack. Santino's command is mostly destroyed while Jaruwalski eventually has her career salvaged with the help of Honor Harrington herself.
** Conflicts with the Solarian League, in which the Manticoran forces are so much more advanced technologically they can {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} vastly more numerous Solarian forces with ease, often feature the Manticorans trying to get the Solly commanders to realize they need to do this. The success rate varies depending on how TooDumbToLive the arrogant Solarian commanders are.
* ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober''. The Soviet admiral orders the fleet to avoid harassing the Americans after a heavy cruiser is subjected to a mock attack. He knows the Soviet navy is wasting time that is needed to find the Red October and will be destroyed if the Americans decide to attack for real. The American admiral later says: "they make the first move, we up the ante, they just plain fold."
* ''{{Literature/Jingo}}'' appears to feature this, with Vetinari surrendering to Klatchian forces and giving them huge advantages in exchange for letting them all go home, with the treaty to be signed on the island of Leshp. [[spoiler:A week or so later, as Vetinari is on trial for treason, he innocuously asks what treaty they're talking about, since it needed to be signed on Leshp, which has just sunk back under the ocean.]]
* In the Literature/LeftBehind book ''Glorious Appearing'', a good deal of the Global Community armed forces not situated in the Holy Land at the time of the battle of Armageddon, who realize that they are without any resources coming from New Babylon to make sure they're paid (all because said city is destroyed), decide that they might as well quit even though they face a court martial for doing so.
* ''Literature/MobyDick'': Captain Boomer lost his arm to Moby Dick, but unlike Ahab is smart enough to realize going for round two isn't a good idea and just moved on.
* The children's book ''Literature/NuddyNed'' has the title character decide to run around naked in public, with his parents desperately trying to get their son to put clothes on. In the end, they concede that they can't get their son to change his opinion on nudity and even start joining him in running around naked.
* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Marie Durocher's binding class, in which she releases a dangerous bound Other that threatens to kill all the students and leaves it to her apprentice to restrain it, is intended to teach this lesson:
-->'''Durocher''': I told you the right answer early on. If you face something this big and you’re not certain of what it is and how to deal with it, you should question how you got to that position. The first rule of self preservation, even if you’re as capable as I, Mr. Belanger, Mr. Sunshine, Mr. Bristow, or Mr. Musser are, is that you should run when outmatched.
* ''Literature/RWBYBeforeTheDawn'' reveals a strong connection of this trope with RunOrDie: once Beacon was attacked by the huge Grimm army, Nolan decided he was better off fleeing the place. As a result, he's the SoleSurvivor of his team, as the other three died in the battle, leading to strong SurvivorsGuilt.
* ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'': The titular character will try and avoid a battle he can't win, and retreat when he gets his ass kicked, if only to return in force and take revenge.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Violet realizes that their climb to the ascending hot air balloon in ''The Vile Village'' is dangerous and forces her siblings back to the ground so they won't get hurt, even though the Quagmires are on the balloon and it is designed never to return to ground.
* In ''Literature/ShamanBlues'', when the Old Ones see Vulture basically blow the afterlife's door wide open to rescue Witkacy, they wisely decide to give up on attempting to claim their "prize" and retreat.
* ''[[Literature/SisterhoodSeries Sisterhood]]'' series by Creator/FernMichaels: Owen Orzell in ''Home Free'' knew that he had no chance of winning once the Vigilantes caught him. As bonus points, he reveals that he gambles, tries to be very careful not to get addicted, and so he would clearly understand this trope very well.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', roughly three hundred of years before the start of the series, King Torrhen of House Stark took enough time to raise his army (the North ''is'' huge) that got a good look at how Aegon Targaryen was [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] all the Andal and Ironborn kingdoms to the south of his, and wisely bent the knee as soon as Aegon the Conqueror turned his attention towards the North's army.
* The Creator/DianeDuane novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', combined with the story to which it is a sequel, teaches this. The BigBad begins brooding over things not going precisely according to plan. The attempt to fix this undoes all accomplishments from the last time and the BigBad ends up in prison.
* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novel ''Kobayashi Maru'', this is essentially Sulu's resolution. He decides the whole thing is a trap and elects not to enter the Neutral Zone.
* In ''Literature/ThisImmortal'', the reasoning behind Conrad's leaving his identity as Konstantin Karaghiosis and the [[LaResistance Returnist movement]] behind was that there comes a point when one's achieved what one could achieve and it's time to move on. Dos Santos and especially Diane, who figures out Conrad's former identity, disagree.
* The Thrawn books, by Creator/TimothyZahn:
** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Thrawn knows when a battle has been lost and, unlike [[CardCarryingVillain most Imperial commanders]], withdraws without wasting his men -- sure, [[WeHaveReserves he's got reserves]], but why spend them without a need? Pellaeon, back during the Battle of Endor, had found himself to be the highest-ranked survivor and had ordered the retreat.
--->'''Thrawn''': "You were expecting, perhaps, that I'd order an all-out attack? That I would seek to cover our defeat in a frenzy of false and futile heroics?"\\
'''Pellaeon''': "Of course not."\\
'''Thrawn''': "We haven't been defeated, Captain. Merely slowed down a bit."
** This then comes up again at the end of the trilogy. [[spoiler:Once Thrawn is assassinated, Pellaeon realizes the Imperial forces will not be able to defeat the New Republic without Thrawn's tactical genius. So he orders a retreat rather than needlessly waste lives]].
** During the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, Pellaeon was the one to look at his [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] and decide to [[PeaceConference make peace with the New Republic]], ending the war.
* The smarter villains in the Expanded Universe have this as part of their ''modus operandi''. Zsinj in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Solo Command]]'' even mentions avoiding "[[SunkCostFallacy throwing good money after bad]]" when invoking this trope.
** The novel ''The Bacta War'' has a variant. When told that his defeat is now inevitable by Wedge Antilles, the commander of the ''Lusankya'' refuses to give in, and decides to ColonyDrop his ship on a nearby planet as a final fuck you to the New Republic. One of his bridge officers then shoots him, takes command, and declares that he's willing to surrender if the Republic fleet is willing to tow the wreck of his ship into a higher orbit so that it won't crash of its own accord.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' Lazarus Long ascribes his survival for over 2300 years largely to the practical application of this kind of common sense, and the one time he fails at it is the time Death nearly catches up to him.
* This is the hat of the Raven Guard in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. In the Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''Deliverance Lost'', Corax specifically states that because his legion is smaller than the others, they would not survive a mass frontal assault on the traitor forces, and must rely on hit and run attacks.
* A continuing theme in Kelley Armstrong's ''[[Literature/TheOtherworld Women of the Otherworld]]'' series is that sometimes you have to abandon an ambition in order to achieve other ambitions and/or live a fulfilling life. The main character of "Bitten", the first book, spends her character development deciding which of her conflicting desires to pursue and which to abandon. In later books, the trope is more subtle, but still reoccurs often.
* In Creator/LFrankBaum's ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' as a subtext -- the Lion is deeply afraid of the Kelidas roaming the forest, and does his best to avoid them... but the fact that they're twice his size and have the heads of tigers and the bodies of bears suggests that avoiding them might be the smart thing to do until you can find a better way of handling it, which the Lion does with the help of Dorothy and her friends.
----
