Art Of War Sun Tzu Quotes

#1. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans, the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field, and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

Sun Tzu

#2. 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

#3. The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.

Sun Tzu

#4. If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.

Sun Tzu

#5. In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected.

Sun Tzu

#6. The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.

Sun Tzu

#7. The essential factor of military success is speed, that is taking advantage of others' unpreparedness or lack of foresight, their failure to catch up, going by routes they do not expect, attacking where they are not on guard. This you cannot accomplish with hesitation.

Sun Tzu

#8. To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill

Sun Tzu

#9. Unless you know the mountains and the forests, the defiles and impasses, the lay of the marshes and swamps, you cannot maneuver with an armed force. Unless you use local guides, you cannot get the advantages of the land.

Sun Tzu

#10. The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.

Teck Foo Check

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

Sun Tzu

#12. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#14. It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled.

Sun Tzu

#15. It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#18. Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.

Sun Tzu

#19. Sun Tzu Wu was a native of the Ch'i State. His Art of War brought him to the notice of Ho Lu, King of Wu. Ho Lu said to him: "I have carefully perused your 13 chapters. May I submit your theory of managing soldiers to a slight test?

Sun Tzu

#20. These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.

Sun Tzu

#21. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#23. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

Sun Tzu

#24. He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot , will be victorious .

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#26. Malone kept listening, a saying from Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR spinning through his mind. When your enemy is in the process of destroying himself, stay out of the way.

Steve Berry

#27. One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

Sun Tzu

#28. Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization.

Sun Tzu

#29. The General who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state.

Sun Tzu

#30. It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him; not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible.

Sun Tzu

#31. 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

#32. In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

Sun Tzu

#33. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength.

Sun Tzu

#34. In a position of this sort, even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait, it will be advisable not to stir forth, but rather to retreat, thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage.

Sun Tzu

#35. He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#37. 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

#38. These are the six ways of courting defeat - neglect to estimate the enemy's strength; want of authority; defective training; unjustifiable anger; nonobservance of discipline; failure to use picked men ...

Sun Tzu

#39. Agitate him and ascertain the pattern of his movement.

Sun Tzu

#40. If not in the interests of the state, do not act. If you cannot succeed, do not use troops. If you are not in danger, do not fight.

Sun Tzu

#41. If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder: then your soldiers must be likened to spoilt children; they are useless for any practical purpose.

Sun Tzu

#42. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: - let such a one be dismissed!

Sun Tzu

#43. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#45. The art of war is the art of deception.

Sun Tzu

#46. War is a matter of vital importance to the state; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.

Sun Tzu

#47. When the enemy is relaxed, make them toil. When full, starve them. When settled, make them move.

Sun Tzu

#48. The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without having to fight them.

Sun Tzu

#49. Leaders can change the tenor of the workplace and create harmony in motion toward a favorable result. So every time you say to your team, "Let's rock and roll," make sure you have already set up the stage to where they can actually perform like rock stars.

Thomas Huynh

#50. If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.

Sun Tzu

#51. In a similar way, The Art of War pinpoints anger and greed as fundamental causes of defeat.

Sun Tzu

#52. The Art of War is self-explanatory

Sun Tzu

#53. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

Sun Tzu

#54. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need to do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.

Sun Tzu

#55. When Lionel Giles began his translation of Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR, the work was virtually unknown in Europe. Its introduction to Europe began in 1782 when a French Jesuit Father living in China, Joseph Amiot, acquired a copy of it, and translated

Sun Tzu

#56. When two sides who consider each other enemies converge in armed struggle, for the moment they are no longer enemies. They are fellow human beings who face the same two choices that their ancestors did for centuries before them: to destroy each other or to prosper together.

Thomas Huynh

#57. The value of time, that is of being a little ahead of your opponent, often provides greater advantage than superior numbers or greater resources.

Sun Tzu

#58. And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.

Sun Tzu

#59. Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine

Sun Tzu

#60. When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or not he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#62. When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become as it were like unto rolling logs or stones. For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped to go rolling down.

Sun Tzu

#63. Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former.

Sun Tzu

#64. 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

#65. On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough; hence the institution of gongs and drums ... banners and flags. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point.

Sun Tzu

#66. With regard to narrow passes, if you can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy.

Sun Tzu

#67. When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways.

Sun Tzu

#68. The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands

Sun Tzu

#69. To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape.

Sun Tzu

#70. Remember Ping-fa, Sun Tzu,' Art of War - read between the lines: kick ass and take names later."

Mad
Stargirl

Linden Morningstar

#71. From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.

Sun Tzu

#72. 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

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

Sun Tzu

#74. When orders are consistently trustworthy and observed, the relationship of a commander with his troops is satisfactory.

Sun Tzu

#75. The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

#77. As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.

Sun Tzu

#78. Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.

Sun Tzu

#79. The Sun Tzu School Ping-fa Directive.
Be strong and continually aware. Manage your strength and that of others. When essential, engage on your terms. Be observant, adaptive, and subtle. Do not lose control. Act decisively. Conclude quickly. Don't Fight!

David G. Jones

#80. The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

Sun Tzu

#81. Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him

Sun Tzu