Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unaware.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of vigilance and awareness of one's surroundings in the face of potential danger.
In this quote, Sun Tzu emphasizes that observing the behavior of birds and animals can serve as indicators of impending threats. When birds suddenly take flight or animals flee, it is a signal that something is amiss, suggesting the presence of an ambush or deceptive tactics by an enemy. This lesson extends beyond the battlefield to life in general, reminding individuals to remain alert and perceptive to the signs that might reveal unseen dangers.
Themes
AwarenessVigilanceDangerStrategyNature
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a workshop on personal safety could use this quote to encourage participants to stay aware of their environment.
More from Sun Tzu
All quotes →Great 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
In this we see the wondrous virtue of the Lord: that the power dwelling in His body should communicate to perishable things the efficacy to heal, and that the divine activity should issue forth even from the hem of His garment. For God is not perceptible by the senses, to be enclosed within a body. The assumption of a body did not limit the nature of His power; but for our redemption His power took upon it the frailty of our body.
Hilary Of PoitiersRead
For axioms in philosophy are not axioms until they are proved upon our pulses.
John KeatsRead
It was our view of the worst that could befall our people if they were taken captive. So, what was fascinating to me was that somehow it appears the techniques that we have feared most in the world would be used on our people, we are using on people in our custody.
Jane MayerRead
Beyond ideas, there's a field. Will you meet me there?
RumiRead
All religions begin with the cry Help.
William JamesRead
I don’t believe in “laying to rest” the past. There are wounds we won’t get over. There are things that happen to us that, no matter how hard we try to forget, no matter with what fortitude we face them, what mix of religion and therapy we swallow, what finished and durable forms of art we turn them into, are going to go on happening inside of us for as long as our brains are alive.
Christian WimanRead