Sun Tzu Quotes

#1. With regard to ground of this nature, be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage.

Sun Tzu

#2. When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.

Sun Tzu

#3. You must be swift as the wind, dense as the forest, rapacious as fire, steadfast like a mountain, mysterious as night and mighty as thunder.

Sun Tzu

#4. Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win

Sun Tzu

#5. There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.

Sun Tzu

#6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

Sun Tzu

#7. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

Sun Tzu

#8. In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.

Sun Tzu

#9. The height of strategy, is to attack your opponent's strategy.

Sun Tzu

#10. he not honestly believed the contrary. And it is precisely on such a point that the judgment of an educated Chinaman will carry most weight. Other internal evidence is not far to seek. Thus in XIII. ss. 1, there is an unmistakable allusion to the ancient system

Sun Tzu

#11. The control of large numbers is possible, and like unto that of small numbers, if we subdivide them.

Sun Tzu

#12. When your opponent gives you an opening, be swift as a hare.

Sun Tzu

#13. Those skilled in attack move as from above the nine-fold heavens. Thus they are capable both of protecting themselves and of gaining complete victory.

Sun Tzu

#14. In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close.

Sun Tzu

#15. When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward.

Sun Tzu

#16. When a general, unable to estimate the enemy's strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be rout.

Sun Tzu

#17. So it is that good warriors take their stance on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat.

Sun Tzu

#18. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

Sun Tzu

#19. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

Sun Tzu

#20. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him. Though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.

Sun Tzu

#21. With regard to precipitous heights, if you are beforehand with your adversary, you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up.

Sun Tzu

#22. All warfare is based on deception. If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight and if not: split and re-evaluate.

Sun Tzu

#23. Invincibility depends on one's self; the enemy's vulnerability on him.

Sun Tzu

#24. All wars are won or lost before they are ever fought.

Sun Tzu

#25. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return.

Sun Tzu

#26. [There is less precision in the Chinese than I have thought it well to introduce into my translation, and the commentaries on the passage are by no means explicit. But, having regard to the context, we can hardly doubt that Sun Tzu is holding up I Chih and Lu Ya as illustrious

Sun Tzu

#27. If you follow the enemy's shifts and changes, you can always find a way to win.

Sun Tzu

#28. Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

Sun Tzu

#29. All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.

Sun Tzu

#30. Victory is the main object in war.

Sun Tzu

#31. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory is won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

Sun Tzu

#32. In warfare, there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent will succeed and win.

Sun Tzu

#33. When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.

Sun Tzu

#34. When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy.

Sun Tzu

#35. When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called temporising ground.

Sun Tzu

#36. If rewards are immoderate, there will be expenditure that does not result in gratitude; if punishments are immoderate, there will be slaughter that does not result in awe.

Sun Tzu

#37. So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.

Sun Tzu

#38. Don't flail against the world, use it. Flexibility is the operative principle in the art of war.

Sun Tzu

#39. The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.

Sun Tzu

#40. The best general is the one who never fights.

Sun Tzu

#41. Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

Sun Tzu

#42. It is sufficient to estimate the enemy situation correctly and to concentrate your strength to capture him. There is no more to it than this. He who lacks foresight and underestimates his enemy will surely be captured by him.

Sun Tzu

#43. [The chief lesson of this chapter, in Tu Mu's opinion, is the paramount importance in war of rapid evolutions and sudden rushes. "Great results," he adds, "can thus be achieved with small forces."]

Sun Tzu

#44. Of old the expert in battle would first make himself invincible and then wait for his enemy to expose his vulnerability.

Sun Tzu

#45. Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.

Sun Tzu

#46. And addressed them thus: I presume you know the difference between front and back, right hand and left hand?

Sun Tzu

#47. It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.

Sun Tzu

#48. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat.

Sun Tzu

#49. If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him.
If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are now

Sun Tzu

#50. War is like a fire - if you do not put it out, it will burn itself out.

Sun Tzu

#51. Where the army is, prices are high; when prices rise the wealth of the people is exhausted.

Sun Tzu

#52. Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.

Sun Tzu

#53. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

Sun Tzu

#54. Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win.

Sun Tzu

#55. A warrior who is prepared to fight must also be prepared to die.

Sun Tzu

#56. One defends when his strength is inadequate, he attacks when it is abundant.

Sun Tzu

#57. Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.

Sun Tzu

#58. He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

Sun Tzu

#59. All war is based on deception.

Sun Tzu

#60. The good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.

Sun Tzu

#61. He who only sees the obvious, wins his battles with difficulty; he who looks below the surface of things, wins with ease

Sun Tzu

#62. It is more important to outhink your enemy, than to outfight him

Sun Tzu

#63. Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports.

Sun Tzu

#64. who wishes to fight must first count the cost

Sun Tzu

#65. Chapter1
Laying Plans

Sun Tzu

#66. The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.

Sun Tzu

#67. Attack the enemy's strategy.

Sun Tzu

#68. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Sun Tzu

#69. For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.

Sun Tzu

#70. 5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

Sun Tzu

#71. A clever general ... avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods. Disciplined and calm, he awaits the appearance of disorder and hubbub among the enemy. This is the art of retaining self-possession.

Sun Tzu

#72. Lure with bait, strike with chaos

Sun Tzu

#73. passivity means waiting for an opportunity,

Sun Tzu

#74. The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.

Sun Tzu

#75. No nation has ever benefited from a prolonged war.

Sun Tzu

#76. If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive;
and, unless submissive, then will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached
to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be unless.

Sun Tzu

#77. Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy

Sun Tzu

#78. Sun Tzu said: The art of war recognises nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.

Sun Tzu

#79. It is best to keep one's own state intact; to crush the enemy's state is only second best.

Sun Tzu

#80. Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat.

Sun Tzu

#81. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

Sun Tzu

#82. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground
over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation
to the foe whom he is facing.

Sun Tzu

#83. The Book of Army Management says: On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution of banners and flags.

Sun Tzu

#84. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Sun Tzu

#85. However, this translation is, in the words of Dr. Giles, "excessively bad." He goes further in this criticism: "It is not merely a question of downright blunders, from which none can hope to be wholly exempt.

Sun Tzu

#86. Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle ... They conquer by strategy.

Sun Tzu

#87. Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.

Sun Tzu

#88. One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

Sun Tzu

#89. If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame. But, if orders are clear and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their oficers.

Sun Tzu

#90. The peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict unnecessary.

Sun Tzu

#91. The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

Sun Tzu

#92. Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

Sun Tzu

#93. The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

Sun Tzu

#94. Now by the laws of war, better than defeating a country by fire and the sword, is to take it without strife.

Sun Tzu

#95. Set the troops to their tasks without imparting your designs.

Sun Tzu

#96. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.

Sun Tzu

#97. Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business.

Sun Tzu

#98. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and you know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

Sun Tzu

#99. Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.

Sun Tzu

#100. Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.

Sun Tzu