Sun Tzu

He will win whose army is animated by the spirit throughout all its ranks.

Sun Tzu

Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Sun Tzu

Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.

Sun Tzu

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

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

Sun Tzu

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

Sun Tzu

In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close.

Sun Tzu

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

In war, practice dissimulation and you will succeed.

Sun Tzu

It is ten thousand times cheaper to pay the best spies lavishly than even a tiny army poorly.

Sun Tzu