Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.
Interpretation
Avoiding mistakes guarantees success, as it indicates that you have already overcome your foe.
This quote by Sun Tzu suggests that the key to achieving victory lies in perfecting one's strategy and execution, thereby leaving no room for error. A foe that is already defeated implies that through careful planning and execution, one can ensure success without directly engaging in conflict.
In practice
This quote can be used in a business presentation to emphasize the importance of careful planning.
Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Great results, can be achieved with small forces.
To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it.
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.
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.
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.
Backlock, a poet blind from his birth, could describe visual objects with accuracy; Professor Sanderson, who was also blind, gave excellent lectures on color, and taught others the theory of ideas which they had and he had not. In the social sphere these gifted ones are mostly women; they can watch a world which they never saw, and estimate forces of which they have only heard. We call it intuition.
Reality - the way that is, exactly as it is, in every moment - is always kind. It's our story about reality that blurs our vision, obscures what's true, and leads us to believe that there is injustice in the world. I sometimes say that you move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.
'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.
It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement. Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs, therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity or undue depression in adversity.
When new turns of behavior cease to appear in the life of the individual, its behavior ceases to be intelligent.
If you can get really good at destroying your own wrong ideas, that is a great gift.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.