Sun Tzu Quotes

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

When you know your enemy you understand his emotions, his pros and cons, his tactics, and how he uses his forces. This is pivotal and can shape the outcome of battles. You can use this knowledge and even if you face him a hundred times you can win those hundred battles. Just like Aristotle said “know thyself”, here Sunt Zu is saying know your enemy for sure shot victory killing any element of surprise for doubt contributes to failure.

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

Sun Tzu is regarded as one of the greatest military strategists. His documentation of the best ancient strategies is studied in boardrooms and war rooms alight. His admonition that Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt rings especially true today. As is: Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

Know when to fight and when not to fight: avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak. Know how to deceive the enemy: appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Know your strengths and weaknesses: if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.

The underlying truth, of course, is that the greatest wisdom lies within you. Once you have gained that knowledge you will understand the world in a more profound way. Knowing others, and knowing things, is all well and good but to know yourself, to know what makes you “tick” is an essential prerequisite for all greater and deeper knowledge. It is the road to enlightenment.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war.

Victorious warriors win first and battle second. Therefore, a good leader takes advantage of the opportunity, wherein they succeed when winning is easy. An easy victory means understanding the nuances of your opponent in order to preemptively strike. Victorious warriors win first. If the surrender comes before a battle is fought, all the better.

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak

The goal of any conflict is to control your opponent and overcome them. Controlling their beliefs about your abilities helps you understand their assumptions and plan a strategy accordingly. If you are strong, you have to look weak and if you are weak, you must appear strong.