Quotes About Balance

The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch'ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

By reinforcing every part, he weakens every part.

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.

He who relies solely on warlike measures shall be exterminated; he who relies solely on peaceful measures shall perish.

Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.

He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

and addressed them thus: "I presume you know the difference between front and back, right hand and left hand?

Excessive rewards are a sign of desperation. Excessive punishments are a sign of exhaustion.

Some people think insufficiency means weakness and surplus means strength, but this impression is wrong.

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

These are: (1) the Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) the Commander; (5) method and discipline.

Continuer la lutte lorsqu'on est victorieux, c'est aussi bien diminuer ses propres forces qu'affaiblir le gage exigé du vaincu. (notes de L. Nachin (1948) sur l'article II)

Using order to deal with the disorderly, using calm to deal with the clamorous, is mastering the heart.

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.

A victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as a pound's weight placed in the scale against a single grain.

8.    EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death. 9.    The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.

Utilizar el orden para enfrentarse al desorden, utilizar la calma para enfrentarse con los que se agitan, esto es dominar el corazón.

Therefore the considerations of the intelligent always include both benefit and harm. As they consider benefit, their work can expand; as they consider harm, their troubles can be resolved.

What is perhaps most characteristically Taoist about The Art of War in such a way as to recommend itself to the modern day is the manner in which power is continually tempered by a profound undercurrent of humanism.

Taoism has fostered both material and mental progress, both technological development and awareness of the potential dangers of that very development, always striving to encourage balance between the material and spiritual sides of humankind.

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.

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.

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