5 famous lines from Sun Tzu, word for word from the original text
Sun Tzu's ancient Chinese treatise on strategy, here in Lionel Giles's 1910 translation. Its short, sharp lines on deception, preparation and knowing yourself are quoted far beyond the battlefield.
“All warfare is based on deception.”
— The Art of War, Chapter I. Laying Plans · about 28% into the book
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
— The Art of War, Chapter III. Attack By Stratagem · about 35% into the book
“Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
— The Art of War, Chapter III. Attack By Stratagem · about 32% into the book
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
— The Art of War, Chapter VII. Manœuvering · about 51% into the book
“There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”
— The Art of War, Chapter II. Waging War · about 30% into the book
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One of the best-known lines from The Art of War is: “All warfare is based on deception.” (Chapter I. Laying Plans).
Yes. Every quote on this page is copied word for word from the public-domain text of The Art of War on Project Gutenberg, with the chapter it appears in — so you can find it in your own copy.
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