Sun Tzu Quotes
244 Sun Tzu Quotes
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In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains.
Sun Tzu
How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics—that is what the multitude cannot comprehend.
Sun Tzu
All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
Sun Tzu
Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
Sun Tzu
Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
Sun Tzu
Water shapes its course according to the nature of (lie ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. The five elements: Water, fire, wood, metal, earth, are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make way for each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.
Sun Tzu
He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
Sun Tzu
In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonise the different elements thereof before pitching his camp. After that, comes tactical manoeuvring, than which there is nothing more difficult. The difficulty of tactical manoeuvring 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.
Sun Tzu
Manoeuvring with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.
Sun Tzu
If you set a fully equipped army to march in order to snatch an advantage, the chances are that you will be too late. On the other hand, to detach a flying column for the purpose involves the sacrifice of its baggage and stores.
Sun Tzu
If you order your men to roll up their buff-coats, and make forced marches without halting day or night, covering double the usual distance at a stretch, doing a hundred li in order to wrest an advantage, the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy. The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its destination. If you march fifty li in order to outmanoeuvre the enemy, you will lose the leader of your first division, and only half your force will reach the goal. If you march thirty li with the same object, two-thirds of your army will arrive. We may take it then that an army without its baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost.
Sun Tzu
We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbours.
Sun Tzu
We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.
Sun Tzu
We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides.
Sun Tzu
In war, practise dissimulation, and you will succeed. Move only if there is a real advantage to be gained.
Sun Tzu
Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by circumstances.
Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest,
Sun Tzu
In raiding and plundering be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.
Sun Tzu
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
Sun Tzu
When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men; when you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery.
Sun Tzu
Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
Sun Tzu
He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of manoeuvring.
Sun Tzu
The Book of Army Management says: On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution of banners and flags. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means hereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. The host thus forming a single united body, it is impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone. This is the art of handling large masses of men.
Sun Tzu
In night-fighting, then, make much use of signal-fires and drums, and in fighting by day, of flags and banners, as a means of influencing the ears and eyes of your army. A whole army may be robbed of its spirit; a commander-in-chief may be robbed of his presence of mind.
Sun Tzu
Know a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. 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.
Sun Tzu
Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy - this is the art of retaining self-possession.
Sun Tzu
To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished - this is the art of husbanding one's strength.
Sun Tzu
To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array - this is the art of studying circumstances.
Sun Tzu
It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.
Sun Tzu
Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen.
Sun Tzu
Do not swallow a bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.
Sun Tzu
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.
Sun Tzu
Do not press a desperate foe too hard. Such is the art of warfare.
Sun Tzu
In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces. When in difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions. In hemmed-in situations, you must resort to stratagem. In a desperate position, you must fight.
Sun Tzu
There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed. The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops. The general who does not understand these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account. So, the student of war who is unversed in the art of varying his plans, even though he be acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail to make the best use of his men.
Sun Tzu
In the wise leader's plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together. If our expectation of advantage be tempered in this way, we may succeed in accomplishing the essential part of our schemes. If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.
Sun Tzu
Reduce the hostile chiefs by inflicting damage on them; make trouble for them, and keep them constantly engaged; hold out specious allurements, and make them rush to any given point.
Sun Tzu
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; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.
Sun Tzu
There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: 1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; 2) cowardice, which leads to capture; 3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; 4) a delicacy of honour which is sensitive to shame; and 5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble. These are the five besetting sins of a general, ruinous to the conduct of war. When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of meditation.
Sun Tzu
We come now to the question of encamping the army, and observing signs of the enemy.
Sun Tzu
Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighbour hood of valleys.
Sun Tzu
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