Quotes from Sun Tzu

The skilled can fill their people with energy to confront the emptiness of others, while the incompetent drain their people of energy in face of the fullness of others.

La strategia è la via del paradosso. Così, chi è abile, si mostri maldestro; chi è utile, si mostri inutile. Chi è affabile, si mostri scostante; chi è scostante, si mostri affabile.

You will not succeed unless your men have tenacity and unity of purpose, and above all, a spirit of sympathetic cooperation.

Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.

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

Si vos ennemis sont plus puissants et plus forts que vous, vous ne les attaquerez point, vous éviterez avec un grand soin ce qui peut conduire à un engagement général ; vous cacherez toujours avec une extrême attention l'état où vous vous trouverez.

Invincibility depends on one's self; the enemy's vulnerability on him. It follows that those skilled in war can make themselves invincible but cannot cause an enemy to be certainly vulnerable. Therefore it is said that one may know how to win, but cannot necessarily do so.

Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements, and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man.

The ultimate skill in taking up a strategic position is to have no form.

The wise general in his deliberations must consider both favorable and unfavorable factors. He ponders the dangers inherent in the advantages, and the advantages inherent in the dangers. By taking into account the favorable factors, he makes his plan feasible; by taking into account the unfavorable, he may resolve the difficulties. Advantage and disadvantage are mutually reproductive. The enlightened deliberate.

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

Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

Najwy?szym osi?gni?ciem jest pokonanie wroga bez stoczenia z nim walki.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war.

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.

The general is the protector of the state. If this protection is all-embracing, the state will surely be strong; if defective, the state will certainly be weak. A sovereign who obtains the right person prospers. One who fails to do so will be ruined.

Heaven and earth are not humanistic—they regard myriad beings as straw dogs; sages are not humanistic—they regard people as straw dogs

stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness.

14.  By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. 15.  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!

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

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. 26. 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.

Lure with bait, strike with chaos

Strong action is training the body without being burdened by the body, exercising the mind without being used by the mind, working in the world without being affected by the world, carrying out tasks without being obstructed by tasks.

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