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Whoever is the first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight... Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy... By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord or by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.

Sun Tzu

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Sun Tzu
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More quotes by Sun Tzu

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Should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
Sun Tzu
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Without local guides, your enemy employs the land as a weapon against you.
Sun Tzu
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Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Sun Tzu
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So the principles of warfare are: Do not depend on the enemy not coming, but depend on our readiness against him. Do not depend on the enemy not attacking, but depend on our position that cannot be attacked.
Sun Tzu
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It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Sun Tzu
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When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.
Sun Tzu
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Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.
Sun Tzu
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The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without having to fight them.
Sun Tzu
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When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.
Sun Tzu
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The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch'ang mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.
Sun Tzu
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Set the troops to their tasks without imparting your designs.
Sun Tzu
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One need not destroy one's enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage.
Sun Tzu
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Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.
Sun Tzu
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Hence the experienced soldier, once in motion, is never bewildered once he has broken camp, he is never at a loss.
Sun Tzu
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Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.
Sun Tzu
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He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
Sun Tzu
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So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.
Sun Tzu
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Unless you enter the tiger's lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger's cub's.
Sun Tzu
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The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.
Sun Tzu
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O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.
Sun Tzu