The Art of War
Sun Tzu
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
Thirteen chapters on strategy and conflict: weigh everything before a war, keep it short, and win, if possible, without fighting
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Introduction
The Art of War is a short text on strategy and conflict from ancient China, in thirteen chapters. It was written for the rulers and generals of a time when rival Chinese states fought one another, and it covers planning before a war, the cost of war, winning without fighting, reading the ground and the enemy, and the use of spies. Its central teaching is that war is a matter of life and death for a state, so it should be entered only after careful calculation, and it is best won with as little fighting as possible.
The work is ancient. It is traditionally dated to the 5th century BC and credited to Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), a general named Sun Wu. Historians still debate when the text was written and whether it is the work of one author.
This summary groups the thirteen chapters by theme and names the chapters it draws on. It reports Sun Tzu's teaching as his own. Where the text speaks of deception, spies or harsh measures, the summary reports them briefly, as the text does.
Notes. The English quotes and the chapter titles come from Lionel Giles's translation of 1910, which is in the public domain and uses some older wording. The quotes are from Sun Tzu's text only, not from Giles's notes. The Dari lines are our own translation of the English. Modern readers also apply the book's ideas to business, sport and everyday life, but the text itself speaks only of war and the state.
- 1Sun Tzu teaches that war is a matter of life and death for a state, so it must be weighed with careful calculation before any fighting begins
- 2Sun Tzu warns that war is ruinously costly, so a campaign must be short: no country has ever gained from a long war
- 3Sun Tzu holds that the best victory is won without fighting, and that it rests on knowing both the enemy and yourself
- 4Sun Tzu says a good fighter first makes himself impossible to defeat, then waits for the enemy to give him the chance to win
- 5Sun Tzu teaches that victory comes from combining direct and indirect moves, keeping one's own plans hidden, and striking where the enemy is weak, as water flows to low ground
- 6Sun Tzu says a general must move his army with care, read the spirit of armies, stay calm and adapt, even to the point of refusing orders that do not fit the situation
- 7Sun Tzu teaches that a general must read the land and the signs of the enemy, and that defeats come from the general's own faults, not from bad luck
- 8Sun Tzu explains how the ground an army stands on, from home soil to desperate ground, changes how its soldiers behave and how a general should act
- 9Sun Tzu ends with a warning against war fought out of anger, and with the claim that foreknowledge of the enemy can come only from people, through spies
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