Top 350 Sun Tzu Quotes (2024 Update)
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251. “In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.”

— Sun Tzu

252. “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

253. “He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance.”

— Sun Tzu

254. “If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.”

— Sun Tzu

255. “Defeat the enemies strategy.”

— Sun Tzu

256. “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

257. “To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it.”

— Sun Tzu

258. “The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm. What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still.”

— Sun Tzu

259. “Being unconquerable lies with yourself; being conquerable lies with your enemy.”

— Sun Tzu

260. “There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.”

— Sun Tzu

261. “Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”

— Sun Tzu

262. “He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.”

— Sun Tzu

263. “He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.”

— Sun Tzu

264. “Use humility to make the enemy haughty. Tire them by flight. Cause division among them. When they are unprepared, attack and make your move when they do not expect it.”

— Sun Tzu

265. “Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.”

— Sun Tzu

266. “It is sufficient to estimate the enemy situation correctly and to concentrate your strength to capture him. There is no more to it than this. He who lacks foresight and underestimates his enemy will surely be captured by him.”

— Sun Tzu

267. “Perfection in war lies in so sapping your opponents will that he surrenders without fighting.”

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

269. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

270. “The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.”

— Sun Tzu

271. “Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.”

— Sun Tzu

272. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

273. “If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.”

— Sun Tzu

274. “A wise general makes a point of foraging of the enemy.”

— Sun Tzu

275. “Bestow rewards without respect to customary practice; publish orders without respect to precedent. Thus you may employ the entire army as you would one man.”

— Sun Tzu

276. “Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all.”

— Sun Tzu

277. “Winning isn’t enough. The acme of all skill is to defeat your enemy before taking the field.”

— Sun Tzu

278. “Know the enemy and know yourself.”

— Sun Tzu

279. “One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.”

— Sun Tzu

280. “The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side.”

— Sun Tzu

281. “If the enemy opens the door, you must race in.”

— Sun Tzu

282. “With regard to ground of this nature, be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage.”

— Sun Tzu

283. “Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence.”

— Sun Tzu

284. “Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.”

— Sun Tzu

285. “When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways.”

— Sun Tzu

286. “It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus double agents are recruited and used.”

— Sun Tzu

287. “The ultimate in disposing one’s troops is to be without ascertainable shape. Then the most penetrating spies cannot pry in nor can the wise lay plans against you.”

— Sun Tzu

288. “Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.”

— Sun Tzu

289. “Set the troops to their tasks without imparting your designs.”

— Sun Tzu

290. “And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.”

— Sun Tzu

291. “Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.”

— Sun Tzu

292. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

293. “Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.”

— Sun Tzu

294. “Do not press an enemy at bay.”

— Sun Tzu

295. “Where the army is, prices are high; when prices rise the wealth of the people is exhausted.”

— Sun Tzu

296. “If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst.”

— Sun Tzu

297. “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: – let such a one be dismissed!”

— Sun Tzu

298. “To plan secretly, to move surreptitiously, to foil the enemy’s intentions and balk his schemes, so that at last the day may be won without shedding a drop of blood.”

— Sun Tzu

299. “So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.”

— Sun Tzu

300. “There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefitted.”

— Sun Tzu