Sun Tzu Quotes

If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.

All war is based on deception.

The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.

A leader leads by example not by force.

Invincibility depends on one's self; the enemy's vulnerability on him.

Know thy self, know thy enemy.

Spies are a most important element in water, because on them depends an army's ability to move.

If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight.

If you are strong, appear weak. But if you are weak, appear strong.

Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small. The difficult things in this world must be done while they are easy, the greatest things in the world must be done while they are still small. For this reason sages never do what is great, and this is why they achieve greatness.

In warfare, there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent will succeed and win.

When a general, unable to estimate the enemy's strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be rout.

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.

I will be able to forecast which side will be victorious and which defeated.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.

One defends when his strength is inadequate, he attacks when it is abundant.

If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.

The nature of war is constant change.

Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance.

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose.

On dispersive ground, therefore, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not. On open ground, do not try to block the enemy's way. On the ground of intersecting highways, join hands with your allies. On serious ground, gather in plunder. In difficult ground, keep steadily on the march. On hemmed-in ground, resort to stratagem. On desperate ground, fight.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.

In the tumult and uproar, the battle seems chaotic, but there is no disorder, the troops appear to be milling about in circles but cannot be defeated.

He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.

Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity; They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness; Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports; Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of warfare; If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. 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.

A battle avoided cannot be lost.

There is an intelligent way to eat a live frog - I just don't know what it is.

Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.

Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.

An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.

Who can determine where one ends and the other begins?

Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, 1 but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganisation; (6) rout.

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.

Every battle is won before it is fought.

Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.

If their forces are substantial, prepare for them; if their forces are strong, avoid them.

Quickness is the essence of the war.

There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.