Sun Tzu Quotes 31–60 of 66 Quotes

Below are 30 of 66 sourced Sun Tzu quotes. Sources and related information appear under each quote. Use the 'Cite this quote' link to get citation references.

“故形兵之極,至於無形,無形,則深間不能窺,上智不能謀。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter VI · Weaknesses and Strengths)

“故善戰者,至人而不至於人。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter VI · Weaknesses and Strengths)

“故敵逸能勞之,飽能飢之,安能動之。出其所不趨,趨其所不意。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter VI · Weaknesses and Strengths)

“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. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. 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

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Quote source: Lionel Giles translation

“故其疾如風,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不動如山,難知如陰,動如雷霆。”

— Sun Tzu

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More on this quote:  • Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your gentleness that of the forest. In raiding and plundering be like fire, be immovable like a mountain. Be as hard to know as the shadow and Move as fast as lightning.
• as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as mountain.

“圍師必闕”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter VII · Military Maneuvers)

“故用兵之法,無恃其不來,恃吾有以待之;無恃其不攻,恃吾有所不可攻也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Quote source:  • Translation by Lionel Giles

“數賞者,窘也;數罰者,困也;”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter IX · Movement and Development of Troops)

“In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter IX · Movement and Development of Troops)

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“將弱不嚴,敎道不明,將之過也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter X · Terrain)

“故戰道必勝,主曰無戰,必戰可也;戰道不勝,主曰必戰,無戰可也;”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter X · Terrain)

“進不邀功,退不避罪,唯人是保,而利合於主,國之寶也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter X · Terrain)

“視卒如愛子,故可與之俱死。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter X · Terrain)

“吾士無余財,非惡貨也。無余命,非惡壽也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XI · The Nine Battlegrounds)

“兵之情主速,乘敵所不及,由不虞之途,攻其所不備也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XI · The Nine Battlegrounds)

“施無法之賞,懸無政之令。犯三軍之眾,若使一人。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XI · The Nine Battlegrounds)

“非利不動,非得不用,非危不戰。主不可以怒而興師,將不可以慍而致戰;合于利而動,不合于利而止。怒可以復喜,慍可以復悅,亡國不可以復存,死者不可以復生。故明君慎之,良將警之,此安國全軍之道也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Quote source:  • Translation by Lionel Giles

“敵間之來間我者,因而利之,導而捨之,故反間可得而用也;”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XIII · Intelligence and Espionage)

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“故三軍之事,莫親於間,賞莫厚於間,事莫密於間”

— Sun Tzu

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Sun Tzu. “Sun Tzu Quotes: 31–60 of 66 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Sun-Tzu-quotes-2.html#21

Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XIII · Intelligence and Espionage)

“此(譯注:用間)兵之要,三軍之所恃而動也。”

— Sun Tzu

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (The Art of War: Chapter titles from Chow-Hou Wee (2003), Chapter XIII · Intelligence and Espionage)

“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”

Sun Tzu (Disputed)

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Quote source: This has appeared as a variant of Sun Tzu's assertion to "leave a way of escape." Tu Mu, commenting on Sun Tzu, advises, "Show him there is a road to safety..." Ch. 7; it has also recently appeared on the internet attributed to Scipio Africanus, but without citation.

“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”

Sun Tzu (Disputed)

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Source: Wikiquote: "Sun Tzu" (Disputed)

“Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.”

Sun Tzu (Disputed)

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Quote source: Attributed to Sun Tzu in multiple books and internet sites, but this text does not appear in The Art of War and seems to be a more recent creation.

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

Misattributed to Sun Tzu

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More on this quote: This has often been attributed to Sun Tzu and sometimes to Petrarch. It comes most directly from a line spoken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974), written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola:

 • My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

• Niccolò Machiavelli, who is also sometimes credited, wrote on the subject in The Prince:

 • It is easier for the prince to make friends of those men who were contented under the former government, and are therefore his enemies, than of those who, being discontented with it, were favourable to him and encouraged him to seize it. There are some attributions of this comment to Ghengis Khan ( Mongol Warlord ).

“To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.”

Misattributed to Sun Tzu

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Quote source: This is sometimes attributed to Sun Tzu in combination with the above quote, as well as alone, but it too has not been sourced to any published translation of The Art of War, though it is similar in concept to his famous statement in Ch. 3 : "It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles..."

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Misattributed to Sun Tzu

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Quote source: Probably apocryphal. This quotation does not appear in any print translation of Sun Tzu. The first citation in Google Books is from 2002; no citation in Google Books occurs in a translation of Sun Tzu.

“The true objective of war is peace.”

Misattributed to Sun Tzu

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Sun Tzu. “Sun Tzu Quotes: 31–60 of 66 Quotes.” Last modified August 5, 2021. https://www.quotescosmos.com/people/Sun-Tzu-quotes-2.html#29

More on this quote: This attributed to Sun Tzu and his book The Art of War. Actually James Clavell’s foreword in The Art of War states, “’the true object of war is peace.’” Therefore the quote is stated by James Clavell, but the true origin of Clavell's quotation is unclear. Nonetheless the essence of the quote, that a long war exhausts a state and therefore ultimately seeking peace is in the interest of the warring state, is true, as Sun Tzu in Chapter II Waging Wars says that "There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on." This has been interpreted by Lionel Giles as "Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close."
• Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka, President of Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan is recorded as saying "the real objective of war is peace" in Pacific Stars and Stripes Ryukyu Edition, Tokyo, Japan (10 February 1949), Page 2, Column 2.

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