Quotes from Sun Tzu

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

Danger has a bracing effect.

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful, subduing the other's military without battle is the most skillful.

Like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.

He who relies solely on warlike measures shall be exterminated; he who relies solely on peaceful measures shall perish.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

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

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.

So long as victory can be attained,  stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness.

Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.

Supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.