Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A leader's decisions should be guided by higher principles, not personal grudges or emotions.
This quote from Sun Tzu emphasizes the importance of rationality and strategic thinking in leadership and warfare. It warns against allowing personal feelings of anger or resentment to motivate actions, such as deploying troops or engaging in conflict, suggesting that such impulses can lead to disastrous outcomes in both military and leadership contexts.
Themes
LeadershipWarfareStrategyEmotionsDecisions
In practice
Example use cases
A military leader addressing their troops before a campaign.
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
It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Leaders lead but in the end it's the people who deliver.
Tony BlairRead
Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic 'taken for granted' fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment.
Edgar ScheinRead
No one is bigger than the team. If you can't do things our way, you're not getting time here and we don't care who you are
Gregg PopovichRead
The minute you do any layoffs, you might as well lay off the whole joint because everybody forgets about the customer and worries about their job security.
Steve WynnRead
Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies.
Alexander The GreatRead