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Sun Tzu -
The Art of War
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According to my assessment, even if you have many more troops than others, how can that help you to victory?
Sun Tzu
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The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
Sun Tzu
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Should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
Sun Tzu
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The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.
Sun Tzu
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The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.
Sun Tzu
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Therefore I say: know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.
Sun Tzu
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No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
Sun Tzu
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Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
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Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.
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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.
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The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy
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Act after having made assessments. The one who first knows the measure of far and near wins - this is the rule of armed struggle.
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The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
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Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.
Sun Tzu
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Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.
Sun Tzu
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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.
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All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
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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.
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The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.
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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.
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Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun Tzu
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Quote of the day
Life is not having been told that the man has just waxed the floor.
Ogden Nash
Sun Tzu
Born:
543 BC
Died:
495 BC
(aged 48)
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