Skip to content

Portrait of Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu

Philosopher Wu

685 quotes in 1275 categories

Sun Tzu’s maxims still echo in boardrooms and battlefields alike. These 685 nuggets of strategy offer concise guidance on conflict, leadership, and the art of decisive action.

Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

Sun Tzu is a philosopher from Wu, best known for The Art of War.

Quick Facts About Sun Tzu

Nationality: Wu
Profession: Philosopher
Notable works: The Art of War

About Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, a Classical Chinese text on military strategy from the Warring States period, though the earliest parts of the work probably date to at least a century after him.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Sun Tzu

Be where your enemy is not.

Art

Image

Attack the enemy's strategy.

Attack

Image

Do not press an enemy at bay.

Art

Image

“Never venture, never win!”

Business

Image

The true objective of war is peace.

Army

Image

A battle avoided cannot be lost.

Avoided

Image

In desperate position, you must fight.

Desperate

Image

“Chapter1 Laying Plans”

Laying

Image

“A evolução do Homem passa, necessariamente, pela busca do conhecimento.”

Amor

Image

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

Art

Image

The line between disorder and order lies in logistics...

Disorder

Image

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

Excellence

Image

When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.

Art

Image

“passivity means waiting for an opportunity,”

Passivity

Image

Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence.

Army

Image

War is a matter of vital importance to the state.

Importance

Image

When you shoot a bow and arrow, you aim at the clouds, not because you expect to hit them, but so that…

Aim

Image

Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.

Army

Image

“cited by Pi I-hsun, we may see in this theory a probable solution of the mystery. Between Ssu-ma Ch'ien and”

Mystery

Image

“When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.”

Business

Image

Ponder and deliberate before you make your move. He will conquer who has learned the artifice of deviation. Such is the art…

Art

Image

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out…

Art

Image

Don't flail against the world, use it. Flexibility is the operative principle in the art of war.

Art

Image

He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance.

Able

Image

“...la norma general de las operaciones militares consiste en no contar con que el enemigo no acuda, sino confiar en tener los…

Amor

Image

Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with…

Certain

Image

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a…

Enemy

Image

“The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third…

Siege

Image

“while the main laws of strategy can be stated clearly enough for the benefit of all and sundry, you must be guided…

Strategy

Image

If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are…

Long

Image

Invincibility is in oneself, and vulnerability is in the opponent. Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack.…

Able

Image

“Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered…

Blindly

Image

There are five kinds of incendiary attack: The first is called setting fire to personnel; the second, to stores; the third, to…

Addresses

Image

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: He will win who knows when to fight and when not…

Animated

Image

Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its…

Adapting

Image

“preserved in the T'UNG TIEN, and another in Ho Shin's commentary. It is suggested that before his interview with Ho Lu, Sun…

Tzu Written

Image

Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity; (2) They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straight forwardness; (3)…

Art

Image

The general must be the first in the toils and fatigues of the army. In the heat of summer he does not…

Army

Image

“Hence a commander who advances without any thought of winning personal fame and withdraws in spite of certain punishment, whose only concern…

Beloved son

Image

“What then shall be said of those scholars of our time, blind to all great issues, and without any appreciation of relative…

Gratitude

Image

Sun Tzu by topic

War (409) Art of war (231) Art (200) Enemy (188) Peace (125) Strategy (86) Army (74) Victory (63) Battle (61) Ifs (53) Fighting (51) Business (50) Strategist (40) Military (40) Inspirational (35) Winning (33) Men (30) May (29) Knows (29) Advantage (25) Force (23) Failure (23) Warfare (22) Firsts (22) Defeat (22)