Sun Tzu - The Art of War

171 Sourced Quotes

View all Sun Tzu Quotes
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.

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

Sun Tzu
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.

Sun Tzu
The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.

Sun Tzu
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.

Sun Tzu
The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.

Sun Tzu
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.

Sun Tzu
So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.

Sun Tzu
With regard to precipitous heights, if you are beforehand with your adversary, you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up.

Sun Tzu
Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.

Sun Tzu
When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called temporising ground.

Sun Tzu
The military has no constant form, just as water has no constant shape - adapt as you face the enemy, without letting them know beforehand what you are going to do.

Sun Tzu
Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.

Sun Tzu
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you now Heaven and you know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

Sun Tzu
Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.

Sun Tzu
A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.

Sun Tzu
A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

Sun Tzu
Should the enemy forestall you in occupying a pass, do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned, but only if it is weakly garrisoned.

Sun Tzu
To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

Sun Tzu
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.

Sun Tzu
To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skilful... It does not take much strength to lift a hair, it does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and moon, it does not take sharp ears to hear the thunderclap.

Sun Tzu
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.

Sun Tzu
Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle.... They conquer by strategy.

Sun Tzu
What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

Sun Tzu
The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side.

Sun Tzu
He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Sun Tzu
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

Sun Tzu
The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general.

Sun Tzu
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.

Sun Tzu
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.

Sun Tzu