Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Self-awareness and understanding your opponents lead to success in conflicts.
This quote by Sun Tzu emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge and the understanding of one's adversaries in achieving victory. It suggests that to win in any challenge or conflict, an individual must first be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of their opponents, implying that such knowledge is the key to repeated success in various endeavors.
Themes
Self-AwarenessStrategyVictoryKnowledgeEnemy
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about self-improvement and strategic thinking.
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
One can only pour out of a jug that which is in it.
Anthony TrollopeRead
I'm too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself.
Lillian HellmanRead
Time is the coin of our live. We must take care how we spend it.
Carl SandburgRead
It's never what people do that makes us angry; it's what we tell ourselves about what they did.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
I think if people really read Martin Luther King, Jr., then they would begin to understand what he really represented.
Coretta Scott KingRead
As long as you ask questions you are breaking through, but the moment you begin to accept, you are psychologically dead. So right through life don't accept a thing, but inquire, investigate. Then you will find that your mind is something really extraordinary, it has no end, and to such a mind there is no death.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead