The Art of War
Sun Tzu
1,277 passages indexed from The Art of War (Sun Tzu) — Page 15 of 26
License: Public Domain
The Art of War, passage 979
[Chang Yu quotes his favourite Wei Liao Tzŭ (ch. 3): "If one man were to run amok with a sword in the market-place, and everybody else tried to get our of his way, I should not allow that this man alone had courage and that all the rest were contemptible cowards. The truth is, that a desperado and a man who sets some value on his life do not meet on even terms."]
The Art of War, passage 219
32. This is explicitly stated in the _Tso Chuan_, XXXII, 2.
The Art of War, passage 208
17. Yeh Shih of the Sung dynasty [1151-1223].
The Art of War, passage 541
But the present passage refers particularly to the soldiers of Yüeh who, according to Sun Tzŭ’s calculations, will be kept in ignorance of the time and place of the impending struggle. That is why he says here that victory can be achieved."]
The Art of War, passage 706
[Here again, Sun Tzŭ does not mean that the general is to be careless of the welfare of his troops. All he wishes to emphasize is the danger of sacrificing any important military advantage to the immediate comfort of his men. This is a shortsighted policy, because in the long run the troops will suffer more from the defeat, or, at best, the prolongation of the war, which will be the consequence.
The Art of War, passage 1213
[Tu Mu says: "In the enemy’s country, win people over by kind treatment, and use them as spies."]
The Art of War, passage 380
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
The Art of War, passage 900
29. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory.
The Art of War, passage 334
[Isolating him from his allies. We must not forget that Sun Tzŭ, in speaking of hostilities, always has in mind the numerous states or principalities into which the China of his day was split up.]
The Art of War, passage 1265
Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.
The Art of War, passage 1212
9. Having _local spies_ means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district.
The Art of War, passage 1131
1. Sun Tzŭ said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp;
The Art of War, passage 479
Here he had a tree stripped of its bark, and inscribed upon it the words: "Under this tree shall P’ang Chuan die." Then, as night began to fall, he placed a strong body of archers in ambush near by, with orders to shoot directly if they saw a light. Later on, P’ang Chuan arrived at the spot, and noticing the tree, struck a light in order to read what was written on it. His body was immediately riddled by a volley of arrows, and his whole army thrown into confusion.
The Art of War, passage 818
But we must avoid borrowing foreign soldiers to help us." He then quotes from Wei Liao Tzŭ, ch. 3: "The nominal strength of mercenary troops may be 100,000, but their real value will be not more than half that figure."]
The Art of War, passage 782
Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat.
The Art of War, passage 256
[I.e., "is in harmony with his subjects." Cf. § 5.]
The Art of War, passage 175
He once uttered the words: "If I fight, I conquer." [63] And Jan Yu also said: "The Sage exercises both civil and military functions." [64] Can it be a fact that Confucius never studied or received instruction in the art of war? We can only say that he did not specially choose matters connected with armies and fighting to be the subject of his teaching.
The Art of War, passage 69
Without pinning our faith to the accuracy of details supplied by the _Wu Yüeh Ch’un Ch’iu_, or admitting the genuineness of any of the treatises cited by Pi I-hsun, we may see in this theory a probable solution of the mystery. Between Ssu-ma Ch’ien and Pan Ku there was plenty of time for a luxuriant crop of forgeries to have grown up under the magic name of Sun Tzŭ, and the 82 _p’ien_ may very well represent a collected edition of these lumped together with the original work.
The Art of War, passage 1249
[Mei Yao-ch’en says: "Be on your guard against the possibility of spies going over to the service of the enemy."]
The Art of War, passage 300
Ho Shih says: "Haste may be stupid, but at any rate it saves expenditure of energy and treasure; protracted operations may be very clever, but they bring calamity in their train." Wang Hsi evades the difficulty by remarking: "Lengthy operations mean an army growing old, wealth being expended, an empty exchequer and distress among the people; true cleverness insures against the occurrence of such calamities." Chang Yu says: "So long as victory can be attained, stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness." Now Sun Tzŭ says nothing whatever, except possibly by implication, about ill-considered haste being better than ingenious but lengthy operations.
The Art of War, passage 434
20. The onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep. So much for tactical dispositions.
The Art of War, passage 815
What we can do is simply to concentrate all our available strength, keep a close watch on the enemy, and obtain reinforcements.
The Art of War, passage 138
The gist of Sun Tzŭ’s work is thus summarized by him: "Practice benevolence and justice, but on the other hand make full use of artifice and measures of expediency." He further declared that all the military triumphs and disasters of the thousand years which had elapsed since Sun Tzŭ’s death would, upon examination, be found to uphold and corroborate, in every particular, the maxims contained in his book. Tu Mu’s somewhat spiteful charge against Ts’ao Kung has already been considered elsewhere.
The Art of War, passage 187
4. _Wei Liao Tzŭ_, in 5 _chuan_. Attributed to Wei Liao (4th cent. B.C.), who studied under the famous Kuei-ku Tzŭ. The work appears to have been originally in 31 chapters, whereas the text we possess contains only 24. Its matter is sound enough in the main, though the strategical devices differ considerably from those of the Warring States period. It is been furnished with a commentary by the well-known Sung philosopher Chang Tsai.
The Art of War, passage 929
We seek a pitched battle, but in vain; yet standing on the defensive, none of us has a moment’s respite. If we simply maintain our ground, whole days and months will crawl by; the moment we make a move, we have to sustain the enemy’s attacks on front and rear.
The Art of War, passage 251
[The five cardinal virtues of the Chinese are (1) humanity or benevolence; (2) uprightness of mind; (3) self-respect, self-control, or "proper feeling;" (4) wisdom; (5) sincerity or good faith. Here "wisdom" and "sincerity" are put before "humanity or benevolence," and the two military virtues of "courage" and "strictness" substituted for "uprightness of mind" and "self-respect, self-control, or ‘proper feeling.’"]
The Art of War, passage 698
But Huan Hsuan, fearing the fate which was in store for him should be be overcome, had a light boat made fast to the side of his war-junk, so that he might escape, if necessary, at a moment’s notice.
The Art of War, passage 372
[That is, he is not careful to use the right man in the right place.]
The Art of War, passage 412
["Autumn hair" is explained as the fur of a hare, which is finest in autumn, when it begins to grow afresh. The phrase is a very common one in Chinese writers.]
The Art of War, passage 261
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?
The Art of War, passage 996
The other hero referred to, Ts’ao Kuei (or Ts’ao Mo), performed the exploit which has made his name famous 166 years earlier, in 681 B.C. Lu had been thrice defeated by Ch’i, and was just about to conclude a treaty surrendering a large slice of territory, when Ts’ao Kuei suddenly seized Huan Kung, the Duke of Ch’i, as he stood on the altar steps and held a dagger against his chest.
The Art of War, passage 171
Now, who the author was of this rigid distinction between the "civil" and the "military," and the limitation of each to a separate sphere of action, or in what year of which dynasty it was first introduced, is more than I can say. But, at any rate, it has come about that the members of the governing class are quite afraid of enlarging on military topics, or do so only in a shamefaced manner. If any are bold enough to discuss the subject, they are at once set down as eccentric individuals of coarse and brutal propensities. This is an extraordinary instance in which, through sheer lack of reasoning, men unhappily lose sight of fundamental principles.
The Art of War, passage 667
3. There are roads which must not be followed,
The Art of War, passage 764
[Tu Yu’s explanation, borrowed from Ts’ao Kung’s, is as follows: "The presence of a number of screens or sheds in the midst of thick vegetation is a sure sign that the enemy has fled and, fearing pursuit, has constructed these hiding-places in order to make us suspect an ambush." It appears that these "screens" were hastily knotted together out of any long grass which the retreating enemy happened to come across.]
The Art of War, passage 556
[As Wang Hsi sagely remarks: "There is but one root-principle underlying victory, but the tactics which lead up to it are infinite in number." With this compare Col. Henderson: "The rules of strategy are few and simple. They may be learned in a week. They may be taught by familiar illustrations or a dozen diagrams. But such knowledge will no more teach a man to lead an army like Napoleon than a knowledge of grammar will teach him to write like Gibbon."]
The Art of War, passage 319
[Because twenty cartloads will be consumed in the process of transporting one cartload to the front. A _picul_ is a unit of measure equal to 133.3 pounds (65.5 kilograms).]
The Art of War, passage 1058
[Meng Shih says: "To make it seem that I meant to defend the position, whereas my real intention is to burst suddenly through the enemy’s lines." Mei Yao-ch’en says: "in order to make my soldiers fight with desperation." Wang Hsi says, "fearing lest my men be tempted to run away." Tu Mu points out that this is the converse of VII. § 36, where it is the enemy who is surrounded.
The Art of War, passage 1259
[Tu Yu says: "through conversion of the enemy’s spies we learn the enemy’s condition." And Chang Yu says: "We must tempt the converted spy into our service, because it is he that knows which of the local inhabitants are greedy of gain, and which of the officials are open to corruption."]
The Art of War, passage 1057
50. On hemmed-in ground, I would block any way of retreat.
The Art of War, passage 151
Besides these eleven commentators, there are several others whose work has not come down to us. The _Sui Shu_ mentions four, namely Wang Ling (often quoted by Tu Yu as Wang Tzŭ); Chang Tzŭ-shang; Chia Hsu of Wei; [48] and Shen Yu of Wu. The _T’ang Shu_ adds Sun Hao, and the _T’ung Chih_ Hsiao Chi, while the _T’u Shu_ mentions a Ming commentator, Huang Jun-yu. It is possible that some of these may have been merely collectors and editors of other commentaries, like Chi T’ien-pao and Chi Hsieh, mentioned above.
The Art of War, passage 922
7. When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground.
The Art of War, passage 1078
53. To be ignorant of any one of the following four or five principles does not befit a warlike prince.
The Art of War, passage 91
To say nothing of the fact that these sayings have been accepted and endorsed by all the greatest captains of Chinese history, they offer a combination of freshness and sincerity, acuteness and common sense, which quite excludes the idea that they were artificially concocted in the study.
The Art of War, passage 920
so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command,
The Art of War, passage 1219
Lo Shang, confiding in these promises, march out all his best troops, and placed Wei Po and others at their head with orders to attack at P’o-t’ai’s bidding. Meanwhile, Li Hsiung’s general, Li Hsiang, had prepared an ambuscade on their line of march; and P’o-t’ai, having reared long scaling-ladders against the city walls, now lighted the beacon-fire.
The Art of War, passage 505
[Wang Hsi explains "undefended places" as "weak points; that is to say, where the general is lacking in capacity, or the soldiers in spirit; where the walls are not strong enough, or the precautions not strict enough; where relief comes too late, or provisions are too scanty, or the defenders are variance amongst themselves."]
The Art of War, passage 1177
What they must not do, and what will prove fatal, is to sit still and simply hold to the advantages they have got."]
The Art of War, passage 712
1. Sun Tzŭ said: We come now to the question of encamping the army, and observing signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighbourhood of valleys.
The Art of War, passage 1049
47. On contentious ground, I would hurry up my rear.
The Art of War, passage 60
The _Ssu-ma Fa_ says: "If one man slay another of set purpose, he himself may rightfully be slain." He who relies solely on warlike measures shall be exterminated; he who relies solely on peaceful measures shall perish. Instances of this are Fu Ch’ai [11] on the one hand and Yen Wang on the other. [12] In military matters, the Sage’s rule is normally to keep the peace, and to move his forces only when occasion requires. He will not use armed force unless driven to it by necessity.