Quotes from Sun Tzu

although I have heard of reckless haste in war, I have never seen wise delay.

I]t contains a great deal that Sun Tzu did not write, and very little indeed of what he did.

Momentum in engaging with stakeholders arises from nothing more than the expected and the surprising, yet combining them form more ways than can ever be known. Each brings on the other, like an infinite cycle. Who can exhaust all possibilities?

Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive. He adds: Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.

Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move. An army without secret agents is exactly like a man without eyes or ears.

La prudencia y la firmeza de un pequeño número de personas pueden llegar a cansar y a dominar incluso a numerosos ejércitos.

Un gobierno no debe movilizar un ejército por ira y los jefes militares no deben provocar la guerra por cólera.

Actúa cuando sea beneficioso; en caso contrario, desiste. La ira puede convertirse en alegría y la cólera puede convertirse en placer, pero un pueblo destruido no puede hacerse renacer y al muerte no puede convertirse en vida. En consecuencia un gobierno esclarecido presta atención a todo esto y un buen mando militar lo tiene en cuenta. Ésta es la manera de mantener a la nación a salvo y de conservar intacto un ejército.

The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not to be swayed by petty doubts. Vacillation and fussiness are the surest means of sapping confidence of an army.

Triunfan aquellos que: -saben cuando luchar y cuando no -saben discernir cuándo utilizar muchas o pocas tropas. -tienen tropas cuyos rangos superiores e inferiores tienen el mismo objetivo. -se enfrentan con preparativos a enemigos desprevenidos. -tienen generales competentes y no limitados por sus gobiernos civiles.

fallar en conocer la situación de los adversarios por economizar en aprobar gastos para investigar y estudiar a la oposición es extremadamente inhumano y no es típico de un buen jefe militar, de un consejero de gobierno, ni de un gobernante victorioso.

Si conoces a los demás y te conoces a ti mismo, ni en cien batallas correrás peligro; si no conoces a los demás, pero te conoces a ti mismo, perderás una batalla y ganarás otra; si no conoces a los demás ni te conoces a ti mismo, correrás peligro en cada batalla.

20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.

A common mistake is to consider planning as only a mental process, an idea in our head that simply looks at the past and adjusts for the future. If your plan is not in writing, you do not have a plan at all. Instead, you have only a dream, a vision, or perhaps even a nightmare.

Hacerte invencible significa conocerte a ti mismo; aguardar para descubrir la vulnerabilidad del adversario significa conocer a los demás.

The answer was again in the affirmative, so arrangements were made to bring 180 ladies out of the Palace. Sun Tzu divided them into two companies, and placed one of the King's favorite concubines at the head of each. He then bade them all take spears in their hands, and addressed them thus: "I presume you know the difference between front and back, right hand and left hand?

La invencibilidad está en uno mismo, la vulnerabilidad en el adversario.

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.

He who pursues, not seeking honor, who withdraws, not escaping from guilt, who wants only to protect his people and serving the master, that man is a jewel of the kingdom.

Grab something, what is dear to the enemy, and he's going to do how you would want.

Those unable to understand the dangers inherent in employing troops are equally unable to understand the advantageous ways of doing so.

Como se dice comúnmente, sé rápido como el trueno que retumba antes de que hayas podido taparte los oídos, veloz como el relámpago que relumbra antes de haber podido pestañear.

The strong and the weak can serve, thanks to the principles of the ground.

Where the army is, prices are high; when prices rise the wealth of the people is exhausted. When wealth is exhausted the peasantry will be afflicted with urgent exactions.