Sun Tzu Famous Quotes
All warfare is based on deception.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Know yourself and you will win all battles.
A wise ruler knows that to conquer is not enough, one must also learn how to govern.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.
Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
The opportunity to secure one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him.
Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
Those who were called skillful leaders of old knew how to drive a wedge between the enemy’s front and rear; to prevent co-operation between his large and small divisions; to hinder the good troops from rescuing the bad, the officers from rallying their men.
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.
The art of war is to win without bloodshed or at the very least with minimal bloodshed.
In war, the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and then looks for victory.
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.
If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.
The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.
A wise leader avoids battles he knows he cannot win.
The skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.
Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.
One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or fights not at all.
The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
Deep wisdom is only to be drawn out with the point of the sword.
If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move.
One cannot afford to be naive, easily swayed, and quickly offended in the art of war.
To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
With the greatest skill to attack his opponent’s plans is to prevent the junction of his enemy’s forces.
An army compelled to campaign in the mountains is akin to water compelled to flow uphill.
It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two.
When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his defenses.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away.
A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.
When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.
Convince your enemies that they will gain very little by attacking you.