Quotes from Sun Tzu

There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of them yield more flavours than can ever be tasted.

Weapons are inauspicious instruments, not the tools of the enlightened. When there is no choice but to use them, it is best to be calm and free from greed, and not celebrate victory. Those who celebrate victory are bloodthirsty, and the bloodthirsty cannot have their way with the world.

My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house. My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood. As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords.

I pee in the toilets of my enemies, so that when they flush my pee comes out

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. 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.

A government should not mobilize an army out of anger, military leaders should not provoke war out of wrath. Act when it is beneficial to do so, desist if not. Anger can revert to joy, wrath can revert to delight, but a nation destroyed cannot be restored to existence, and the dead cannot be restored to life.

Attack by Stratagem

Where there are repeated wars, the people are weakened; when they score repeated victories, rulers become haughty. Let haughty rulers command weakened people, and rare is the nation that will not perish as a result.

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

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

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

I have heard that the ancients used bows and arrows to their advantage.

If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame.

Solving large, difficult problems may earn you a reputation for skillful negotiation, but Sun Tzu asserts that this supposed achievement is actually a form of failure, and having true wisdom means preventing difficult problems from arising in the first place. Ironically

as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as mountain

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

7. Hence in the wise leader's plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together.

Stir opponents up, making them respond to you; then you can observe their forms of behavior, and whether they are orderly or confused.

Do not press a desperate enemy.

expenditure

T]o fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat.

Life and death are of supreme importance. Time passes swiftly by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken, awaken. Awaken! Take heed. Do not squander your life.

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost