Quote collection
450 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
"Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain"
"One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all."
"If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss."
"So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak."
"Every battle is won before it is fought."
"Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected."
"If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril."
"To persuade your enemy to (retreat) before the fight is to defeat them even before the battle begins. An enemy made ally is no longer an enemy."
"Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unaware."
"Who can determine where one ends and the other begins?"
"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 to do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way."
"Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men."
"In the tumult and uproar, the battle seems chaotic, but there is no disorder, the troops appear to be milling about in circles but cannot be defeated."
"If I wish to engage, then the enemy, for all his high ramparts and deep moat, cannot avoid engagement; I attack that which he is obliged to rescue."
"It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, defend against them; if weaker, be able to avoid them."
"The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting."
"Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose."
"For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards."
"If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle"