my favoutite suntzu quotes

1.      While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.

2.      According as circumstances are favourable, one should modify one's plans.

3.      When you lay down a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed the offender must be put to death.

4.      All warfare is based on deception.

5.      Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

6.      Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

7.      Humanity and justice are the principles on which to govern a state, but not an army; opportunism and flexibility, on the other hand, are military rather than civil virtues to assimilate the governing of an army

8.      The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man. For the wise man delights in establishing his merit, the brave man likes to show his courage in action, the covetous man is quick at seizing advantages, and the stupid man has no fear of death.

9.      Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

10.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

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

12.  To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

13.  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.

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

15.  Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

16.  In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

17.  Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.

18.  Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

19.  O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible

20.  If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.

21.  In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them

22.  Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.

23.  Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

24.  He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning may be called a heaven- born captain.

25.  Manoeuvring with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous

26.  We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbours.

27.  Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.

28.  Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

29.  Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.

30.  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.

31.  Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy.