Quotes on Art Of War

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled.

One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

The General who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state.

Unless you know the mountains and the forests, the defiles and impasses, the lay of the marshes and swamps, you cannot maneuver with an armed force. Unless you use local guides, you cannot get the advantages of the land.

Be the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances you are in peril.

The world has a way of undermining complex plans. This is particularly true in fast moving environments. A fast moving environment can evolve more quickly than a complex plan can be adapted to it. By the time you have adapted, the target has changed.

Thus, though I have heard of successful military operations that were clumsy but swift, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.

The Art of War is self-explanatory

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

Rewards for good service should not be deferred a single day.

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.

If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.

An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.

Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called entangling.

If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.

The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general.

If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory.