Sun Tzu Quotes

The general who does not advance to seek glory, or does not withdraw to avoid punishment, but cares for only the people's security and promotes the people's interests, is the nation's treasure.

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

To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength; to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.

It is best to keep one’s own state intact; to crush the enemy’s state is only second best.

When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.

Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.

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.

Order or disorder depends on organisation; courage or cowardice on circumstances; strength or weakness on dispositions.

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible, and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

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

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.