The Art of War
Sun Tzu
1,277 passages indexed from The Art of War (Sun Tzu) — Page 18 of 26
License: Public Domain
The Art of War, passage 1134
Pan Ch’ao then fell into a passion: ‘It is today,’ he cried, ‘that our fortunes must be decided! The Intendant is only a humdrum civilian, who on hearing of our project will certainly be afraid, and everything will be brought to light. An inglorious death is no worthy fate for valiant warriors.’ All then agreed to do as he wished. Accordingly, as soon as night came on, he and his little band quickly made their way to the barbarian camp. A strong gale was blowing at the time.
The Art of War, passage 383
[Tu Yu quotes Wang Tzŭ as saying: "It is the sovereign’s function to give broad instructions, but to decide on battle it is the function of the general." It is needless to dilate on the military disasters which have been caused by undue interference with operations in the field on the part of the home government. Napoleon undoubtedly owed much of his extraordinary success to the fact that he was not hampered by central authority.]
The Art of War, passage 733
[Tu Mu quotes T’ai Kung as saying: "An army should have a stream or a marsh on its left, and a hill or tumulus on its right."]
The Art of War, passage 784
26. Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot.
The Art of War, passage 898
[That is, Ts’ao Kung says, "the issue in this case is uncertain."]
The Art of War, passage 678
6. So, the student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans, even though he be acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail to make the best use of his men.
The Art of War, passage 368
[Li Ch’uan adds the comment: "It is like tying together the legs of a thoroughbred, so that it is unable to gallop." One would naturally think of "the ruler" in this passage as being at home, and trying to direct the movements of his army from a distance. But the commentators understand just the reverse, and quote the saying of T’ai Kung: "A kingdom should not be governed from without, and army should not be directed from within." Of course it is true that, during an engagement, or when in close touch with the enemy, the general should not be in the thick of his own troops, but a little distance apart. Otherwise, he will be liable to misjudge the position as a whole, and give wrong orders.]
The Art of War, passage 484
21. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.
The Art of War, passage 509
Chang Yu, therefore, seems to come nearer the mark in saying: "He who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven [see IV. § 7], making it impossible for the enemy to guard against him. This being so, the places that I shall attack are precisely those that the enemy cannot defend…. He who is skilled in defence hides in the most secret recesses of the earth, making it impossible for the enemy to estimate his whereabouts.
The Art of War, passage 886
[It was Wellington, I think, who said that the hardest thing of all for a soldier is to retreat.]
The Art of War, passage 186
3. _Liu T’ao_, in 6 _chuan_, or 60 chapters. Attributed to Lu Wang (or Lu Shang, also known as T’ai Kung) of the 12th century B.C. [74] But its style does not belong to the era of the Three Dynasties. Lu Te-ming (550-625 A.D.) mentions the work, and enumerates the headings of the six sections so that the forgery cannot have been later than Sui dynasty.
The Art of War, passage 17
_De l’habileté dans le gouvernement des Troupes._ Sun-tse dit : Ayez les noms de tous les Officiers tant généraux que subalternes; inscrivez-les dans un catalogue à part, avec la note des talents & de la capacité de chacun d’eux, afin de pouvoir les employer avec avantage lorsque l’occasion en sera venue. Faites en sorte que tous ceux que vous devez commander soient persuadés que votre principale attention est de les préserver de tout dommage.
The Art of War, passage 1271
His suggestion is, that the Hsia and Yin dynasties were upset owing to the intimate knowledge of their weaknesses and shortcoming which these former ministers were able to impart to the other side. Mei Yao-ch’en appears to resent any such aspersion on these historic names: "I Yin and Lu Ya," he says, "were not rebels against the Government. Hsia could not employ the former, hence Yin employed him. Yin could not employ the latter, hence Hou employed him.
The Art of War, passage 342
and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.
The Art of War, passage 461
14. Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.
The Art of War, passage 606
[The simile is doubly appropriate, because the wind is not only swift but, as Mei Yao-ch’en points out, "invisible and leaves no tracks."]
The Art of War, passage 443
A.D.] says: ‘In war, to march straight ahead is _cheng_; turning movements, on the other hand, are _ch’i_.’ These writers simply regard _cheng_ as _cheng_, and _ch’i_ as _ch’i_; they do not note that the two are mutually interchangeable and run into each other like the two sides of a circle [see infra, § 11].
The Art of War, passage 536
Chang Yu’s note may be worth quoting here: "If we do not know the place where our opponents mean to concentrate or the day on which they will join battle, our unity will be forfeited through our preparations for defence, and the positions we hold will be insecure.
The Art of War, passage 1109
[I understand the first four words to mean "accompanying the enemy in one direction." Ts’ao Kung says: "unite the soldiers and make for the enemy." But such a violent displacement of characters is quite indefensible.]
The Art of War, passage 453
9 There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavours than can ever be tasted.
The Art of War, passage 716
Do not climb heights in order to fight. So much for mountain warfare.
The Art of War, passage 297
4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardour damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
The Art of War, passage 241
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
The Art of War, passage 218
31. When Wu first appears in the _Ch’un Ch’iu_ in 584, it is already at variance with its powerful neighbour. The _Ch’un Ch’iu_ first mentions Yüeh in 537, the _Tso Chuan_ in 601.
The Art of War, passage 284
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
The Art of War, passage 572
3. After that, comes tactical manœuvering, than which there is nothing more difficult.
The Art of War, passage 663
[Repeated from VII. § 1, where it is certainly more in place. It may have been interpolated here merely in order to supply a beginning to the chapter.]
The Art of War, passage 267
[The form of this paragraph reminds us that Sun Tzŭ’s treatise was composed expressly for the benefit of his patron Ho Lu, king of the Wu State.]
The Art of War, passage 469
18. Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision;
The Art of War, passage 1174
15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.
The Art of War, passage 687
10. Reduce the hostile chiefs by inflicting damage on them;
The Art of War, passage 152
Sun Tzŭ has exercised a potent fascination over the minds of some of China’s greatest men. Among the famous generals who are known to have studied his pages with enthusiasm may be mentioned Han Hsin (_d_. 196 B.C.), [49] Feng I (_d_. 34 A.D.), [50] Lu Meng (_d_. 219), [51] and Yo Fei (1103-1141). [52] The opinion of Ts’ao Kung, who disputes with Han Hsin the highest place in Chinese military annals, has already been recorded. [53] Still more remarkable, in one way, is the testimony of purely literary men, such as Su Hsun (the father of Su Tung-p’o), who wrote several essays on military topics, all of which owe their chief inspiration to Sun Tzŭ. The following short passage by him is preserved in the _Yu Hai:_ [54]—
The Art of War, passage 290
1. Sun Tzŭ said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers,
The Art of War, passage 341
The name is also applied to turrets on city walls. Of the "movable shelters" we get a fairly clear description from several commentators. They were wooden missile-proof structures on four wheels, propelled from within, covered over with raw hides, and used in sieges to convey parties of men to and from the walls, for the purpose of filling up the encircling moat with earth. Tu Mu adds that they are now called "wooden donkeys."]
The Art of War, passage 106
It was Wu Tzŭ-hsu, he says, who got all the credit of Sun Wu’s exploits, because the latter (being an alien) was not rewarded with an office in the State.
The Art of War, passage 139
6. CH’EN HAO appears to have been a contemporary of Tu Mu. Ch’ao Kung-wu says that he was impelled to write a new commentary on Sun Tzŭ because Ts’ao Kung’s on the one hand was too obscure and subtle, and that of Tu Mu on the other too long-winded and diffuse. Ou-yang Hsiu, writing in the middle of the 11th century, calls Ts’ao Kung, Tu Mu and Ch’en Hao the three chief commentators on Sun Tzŭ, and observes that Ch’en Hao is continually attacking Tu Mu’s shortcomings. His commentary, though not lacking in merit, must rank below those of his predecessors.
The Art of War, passage 878
20. These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.
The Art of War, passage 408
9. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight and conquer and the whole Empire says, "Well done!"
The Art of War, passage 303
6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
The Art of War, passage 5
When Lionel Giles began his translation of Sun Tzŭ’s _Art of War_, the work was virtually unknown in Europe. Its introduction to Europe began in 1782 when a French Jesuit Father living in China, Joseph Amiot, acquired a copy of it, and translated it into French. It was not a good translation because, according to Dr. Giles, "[I]t contains a great deal that Sun Tzŭ did not write, and very little indeed of what he did."
The Art of War, passage 328
[The equivalent to an army corps, according to Ssu-ma Fa, consisted nominally of 12500 men; according to Ts’ao Kung, the equivalent of a regiment contained 500 men, the equivalent to a detachment consists from any number between 100 and 500, and the equivalent of a company contains from 5 to 100 men. For the last two, however, Chang Yu gives the exact figures of 100 and 5 respectively.]
The Art of War, passage 776
And the inhabitants of Chi-mo, witnessing the outrage from the city-walls, wept passionately and were all impatient to go out and fight, their fury being increased tenfold. T’ien Tan knew then that his soldiers were ready for any enterprise. But instead of a sword, he himself took a mattock in his hands, and ordered others to be distributed amongst his best warriors, while the ranks were filled up with their wives and concubines.
The Art of War, passage 899
28. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory.
The Art of War, passage 382
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
The Art of War, passage 288
[1] "Words on Wellington," by Sir. W. Fraser.
The Art of War, passage 836
3. 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.
The Art of War, passage 988
27. 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.
The Art of War, passage 258
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
The Art of War, passage 917
[There are various interpretations of the Chinese adjective for this type of ground. Ts’ao Kung says it means "ground covered with a network of roads," like a chessboard. Ho Shih suggested: "ground on which intercommunication is easy."]
The Art of War, passage 79
Ch’en Chen-sun of the Sung dynasty has the note:—