Quotes About Strategy

If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles...

A skillful defenders hides within ninefold earth; a skillful attacker moves above ninefold sky

Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, victor of El Alamein and commander of land forces on D-Day, wrote extensively on The Art of War in his monumental A History of Warfare.

Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuver. What is difficult about maneuver is to make the devious route the most direct and to turn misfortune to advantage. Thus, march by an indirect route and divert the enemy by enticing him with a bait. So doing, you may set out after he does and arrive before him. One able to do this understands the strategy of the direct and the indirect.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

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

Conservare la disciplina e la calma, attendere i primi segnali di disordine e chiasso nell'esercito nemico: in questo consiste l'arte dell'autocontrollo.

Those who do not know the conditions of mountains and forests, hazardous defiles, marshes and swamps, cannot conduct the march of an army. Those who do not use local guides are unable to obtain the advantages of the ground.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.

stop procastinating xx

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.

brought him to

Ä°çinde bulunduÄŸunuz durum ve koÅŸullar ne kadar tehlikeli olursa olsun, umutsuzluÄŸa kap?lmay?n; as?l her ÅŸeyden korkulacak durumlarda korkulacak hiçbir ÅŸey yoktur; tehlikelerle kuÅŸat?ld???n?zda bu tehlikelerin hiçbirinden korkmay?n; çaresiz kald???n?zda elinize ne geçerse ona güvenin; gafil avland???n?zda gidip düÅŸman? gafil avlay?n.

La defensa es para tiempos de escasez, el ataque para tiempos de abundancia.

War is like a fire—if you do not put it out, it will burn itself out.

Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.

Si solo eres capaz de asegurar la victoria tras enfrentarte a un adversario en un conflicto armado, esa victoria es una dura victoria. Si eres capaz de ver lo sutil y de darte cuenta de lo oculto, irrumpiendo antes del orden de la batalla, la victoria así obtenida es una victoria fácil.

stipulations

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.

surroundings

Military action is important to the nation -- it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it.

Im Frieden bereite dich auf den Krieg vor, im Krieg bereite dich auf den Frieden vor.

To a surrounded enemy you must leave a way of escape. Show him there is a road to safety, and so create in his mind the idea that there is an alternative to death. Then strike.