Top 400 Sun Tzu Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.”

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

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

— Sun Tzu

355. “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

356. “One who speaks deferentially but increases his preparations will advance. One who speaks belligerently and advances hastily will retreat.”

— Sun Tzu

357. “The control of large numbers is possible, and like unto that of small numbers, if we subdivide them.”

— Sun Tzu

358. “Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.”

— Sun Tzu

359. “When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.”

— Sun Tzu

360. “Those who do not know the plans of competitors cannot prepare alliances. Those who do not know the lay of the land cannot maneuver their forces. Those who do not use local guides cannot take advantage of the ground.”

— Sun Tzu

361. “To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skilful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good.”

— Sun Tzu

362. “Hence the experienced soldier, once in motion, is never bewildered; once he has broken camp, he is never at a loss.”

— Sun Tzu

363. “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

364. “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.”

— Sun Tzu

365. “To maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.”

— Sun Tzu

366. “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

367. “From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.”

— Sun Tzu

368. “Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men.”

— Sun Tzu

369. “With regard to precipitous heights, if you are beforehand with your adversary, you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up.”

— Sun Tzu

370. “Thus the skilful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willy-nilly, by the hand.”

— Sun Tzu

371. “Who can determine where one ends and the other begins?”

— Sun Tzu

372. “When orders are consistently trustworthy and observed, the relationship of a commander with his troops is satisfactory.”

— Sun Tzu

373. “The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”

— Sun Tzu

374. “The General who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state.”

— Sun Tzu

375. “He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. 14. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.”

— Sun Tzu

376. “War is a place of life and death, a path towards survival and destruction.”

— Sun Tzu

377. “Within the dynamic of war, there’s only direct and indirect, but their variations are inexhaustible. They are born one from the other within infinite tireless circle.”

— Sun Tzu

378. “When the men are united, the brave cannot advance alone, the cowardly cannot retreat alone.”

— Sun Tzu

379. “The most means victory, the least means defeat; none of it, a certain defeat.”

— Sun Tzu

380. “The skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.”

— Sun Tzu

381. “Everyone is an atheist until they clog a toilet in someone else’s house.”

— Sun Tzu

382. “Every commander is aware of this five fundamental determinants: the path, the heaven, the earth, the leadership and discipline.”

— Sun Tzu

383. “A wise general is a master of fate; he holds in his hands peace or destruction of his people.”

— Sun Tzu

384. “A skillful defenders hides within ninefold earth; a skillful attacker moves above ninefold sky.”

— Sun Tzu

385. “I heard that in war, rushing is madness, but I’ve never seen postponing that was wise.”

— Sun Tzu

386. “Throw the troops into a position from which there is no escape and even when faced with death they will not flee. For if prepared to die, what can they not achieve? Then officers and men together put forth their utmost efforts. In a desperate situation they fear nothing; when there is no way out they stand firm. Deep in a hostile land they are bound together, and there, where there is no alternative, they will engage the enemy in hand to hand combat.”

— Sun Tzu

387. “The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete.”

— Sun Tzu

388. “Moreover, The Art of War ends with a quiet coda whose firm assertion is too often overlooked: that even the most impressive empires fall as soon as their rulers, by their careless conduct, lose or cast aside the best men in their employ.”

— Sun Tzu

389. “An orderly mess is founded on a careful schedule; a bold fear is founded on a potential energy; a strong weakness is founded on the formation of the troops.”

— Sun Tzu

390. “No principle in the world is always right, and no thing is always wrong. What was used yesterday may be rejected today, what is rejected now may be used later on. This use or disuse has no fixed right or wrong. To avail yourself of opportunities at just the right time, responding to events without being set in your ways, is in the domain of wisdom. If your wisdom is insufficient, even if you are widely learned and highly skilled, you’ll come to an impasse wherever you go.”

— Sun Tzu

391. “Use victory over an enemy to bolster your own strenght.”

— Sun Tzu

392. “Know your enemy, know yourself, and the victory will not be questionable even in hundreds of battles.”

— Sun Tzu

393. “Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat.”

— Sun Tzu

394. “The naked man fears no pickpocketing.”

— Sun Tzu

395. “The natural formation of the country is the soldier’s best ally, but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers, and distances, constitutes the test of a great general. He, who knows these things, and in fighting, puts his knowledge into practice, will win his battles. He, who knows them not, nor practices them, will surely be defeated.”

— Sun Tzu

396. “A skillful warrior provokes, but he’s never provoked.”

— Sun Tzu

397. “To command many is equal as to command few; it’s the question of divide.”

— Sun Tzu

398. “Those who know themselves, but not the enemy, shall achieve the same amount of defeats and victories.”

— Sun Tzu

399. “These are the victories of the military lineage. They cannot be transmitted in advance. Thus we must determine the means for victory now and here, since its conditions exist only in the moment.”

— Sun Tzu

400. “Their blows are correlated. The cheng and the ch’i are compared to two interlocked rings: ‘Who can tell where one begins and the other ends?’ Their possible permutations are infinite; the cheng effort may be transformed into a ch’i, a ch’i into a cheng. Thus we may redefine a ch’i attack as one made where a decision is speedily attainable at least cost, in an area characterized by voids or fissures in the enemy’s defences.”

— Sun Tzu