Top 350 Sun Tzu Quotes (2024 Update)
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301. “So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.”

— Sun Tzu

302. “At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.”

— Sun Tzu

303. “In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.”

— Sun Tzu

304. “It is according to the shapes that I lay the plans for victory, but the multitude does not comprehend this. Although everyone can see the outward aspects, none understands the way in which I have created victory.”

— Sun Tzu

305. “It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory,; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.”

— Sun Tzu

306. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

307. “Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat.”

— Sun Tzu

308. “As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.”

— Sun Tzu

309. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

310. “If their forces are substantial, prepare for them; if their forces are strong, avoid them.”

— Sun Tzu

311. “In a position of this sort, even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait, it will be advisable not to stir forth, but rather to retreat, thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage.”

— Sun Tzu

312. “For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.”

— Sun Tzu

313. “Those who would wage war, should first eliminate all domestic enemies before proceeding to attack the external foe.”

— Sun Tzu

314. “When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called temporising ground.”

— Sun Tzu

315. “With regard to narrow passes, if you can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy.”

— Sun Tzu

316. “Unless you enter the tiger’s lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger’s cub’s.”

— Sun Tzu

317. “The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.”

— Sun Tzu

318. “We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country...”

— Sun Tzu

319. “To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.”

— Sun Tzu

320. “Factors in the art of warfare are: First, calculations; second, quantities; third, logistics; fourth, the balance of power; and fifth, the possibility of victory is based on the balance of power.”

— Sun Tzu

321. “Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.”

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

323. “Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.”

— Sun Tzu

324. “If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive; and, unless submissive, then will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be unless.”

— Sun Tzu

325. “If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.”

— Sun Tzu

326. “So it is that good warriors take their stance on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat.”

— Sun Tzu

327. “Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former.”

— Sun Tzu

328. “It is imperative to contest all factions for complete victory, so the army is not garrisoned and the profit can be total. This is the law of strategic siege.”

— Sun Tzu

329. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

330. “These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.”

— Sun Tzu

331. “Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy’s condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments, is the height of inhumanity.”

— Sun Tzu

332. “Should one ask: ‘how do I cope with a well-ordered enemy host about to attack me?’ I reply: seize something he cherishes and he will conform to your desires.”

— Sun Tzu

333. “Of all those in the army close to the commander, none is more intimate than the secret agent.”

— Sun Tzu

334. “Should the enemy forestall you in occupying a pass, do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned, but only if it is weakly garrisoned.”

— Sun Tzu

335. “The sovereign must have full knowledge of the activities of the five sorts of agents. This knowledge must come from the double agents, and therefore it is mandatory that they be treated with the utmost liberality.”

— Sun Tzu

336. “Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.”

— Sun Tzu

337. “Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.”

— Sun Tzu

338. “If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.”

— Sun Tzu

339. “When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.”

— Sun Tzu

340. “In conflict, straightforward actions generally lead to engagement, surprising actions generally lead to victory.”

— Sun Tzu

341. “Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.”

— Sun Tzu

342. “When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or not he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.”

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

344. “Invincibility depends on one’s self; the enemy’s vulnerability on him.”

— Sun Tzu

345. “One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.”

— Sun Tzu

346. “This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair. After that, you may crush him.”

— Sun Tzu

347. “When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.”

— Sun Tzu

348. “The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.”

— Sun Tzu

349. “Now a soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is only on returning to camp.”

— Sun Tzu

350. “Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man.”

— Sun Tzu