Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Agitate him and ascertain the pattern of his movement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding an opponent's behavior is key to gaining the upper hand in conflict or strategy.
This quote by Sun Tzu emphasizes the importance of observation and understanding in both military strategy and broader contexts like life and competition. By agitating an individual, one can reveal their true responses and patterns, allowing for better anticipation of their actions and more effective planning in response.
Themes
StrategyOpponentObservationMovementUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
When preparing for a negotiation, remember this quote to better gauge your opponent's reactions.
More from Sun Tzu
All quotes βGreat results, can be achieved with small forces.
Sun TzuRead
To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it.
Sun TzuRead
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
Sun TzuRead
You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Sun TzuRead
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 TzuRead
Similar quotes
The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.
H. L. MenckenRead
It's not very fashionable, but I love life, and I believe that things disappear and reappear and nothing ever solidifies, no matter how middle-class, housebroken, staid, and solitary someone's life seems to be. That, I think, is what I'm writing about.
Colum MccannRead
The tyranny imposed on the soul by anger, or fear, or lust, or pain, or envy, or desire, I generally call 'injustice.'
PlatoRead
We've been deceived by the thought that we would be more pleasing to God in our own way than in the way God has given us.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded.
John MiltonRead
It is time enough, for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere [in the propagation of religious teachings] when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order.
Thomas JeffersonRead