Best Sun Tzu Quotes Art of War, Leadership and Technoblade

Sun Tzu –

Chinese military leader, strategist, philosopher, and author Sun Tzu lived in the Eastern Zhou era. The Art of War, a significant treatise of military tactics that has influenced both Western and East Asian ideology and combat thinking, is traditionally attributed to Sun Tzu. Instead of focusing on war itself, it places a considerably greater emphasis on alternatives to combat and even war, such as delaying tactics, using spies, forging and maintaining alliances, using deception, and being prepared to bow, at least temporarily, to more formidable adversaries.

As a renowned historical and martial figure, Sun Tzu is highly regarded in Chinese and East Asian cultures. Sun Wu was his birth name, and outside of his family, he went by the nickname name Changqing. His more well-known nickname, Sun Tzu, is Chinese honorific that means to “Master Sun.”

The historicity of Sun Tzu is debatable. He was a minister to King Helü of Wu, according to Sima Qian, a historian of the Han dynasty, and his lifespan was between 544 and 496 BC. Based on its manner of authoring and its depictions of battle, modern researchers who accept his historicity place the preserved text of The Art of War in the later Warring States period. According to conventional wisdom, Sun Bin, a grandchild of the general, produced a work on military strategy called The Art of War. Prior to the 1972 unearthing of Sun Bin’s treatise, some scholars thought Sun Wu and Sun Bin were the same person because they were both referred to as Sun Tzu in traditional Chinese writings.

Best Sun Tzu Quotes On The Art of War, Strategy and Leardership


Sun Tzu’s Most Famous Quotes

“Let your plans be dark

and impenetrable as night, and

when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” – Sun Tzu


“In the midst of

chaos, there is also

opportunity.” – Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu's Most Famous Quote


“Victorious warriors

win first and then go to war,

while defeated warriors go

to war first and then

seek to win.”  Sun Tzu


“To know your

enemy, you must become

your enemy.”  Sun Tzu


“There is no instance

of a nation benefitting from

prolonged warfare.”  Sun Tzu


“Treat your men as

you would your own beloved sons.

And they will follow you into

the deepest valley”  Sun Tzu


“Even the finest sword

plunged into salt water

will eventually rust.”  Sun Tzu


“Move swift as the wind

and closely-formed

as the wood.

Attack like a fire and be still

as the mountain.”  Sun Tzu


“Opportunities multiply as the are seized.”  Sun Tzu


“There are not more than five

musical notes, yet the combinations of

these five give rise to more melodies

than can ever be heard.”  Sun Tzu


“When the enemy is relaxed,

make them toil. When full, starve

them. When settled, make

them move.”  Sun Tzu


Famous Sun Tzu Art Of War Quotes

“Who wishes to fight must first count the cost.”  Sun Tzu


“If you wait by the river

long enough, the bodies of

your enemies will

float by.”  Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu Quotes on The Art Of War


“Know yourself and you will win all battles.”  Sun Tzu


“To win one hundred victories

in one hundred battles is not the acme

of skill. To subdue the enemy without

fighting is the acme of skill.”  Sun Tzu


“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”  Sun Tzu


“Be extremely subtle even to the 
point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious 
even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby

you can be the director of the

opponent’s fate.”  Sun Tzu


“The whole secret lies in

confusing the enemy, so that

he cannot fathom real intent.”  Sun Tzu


“What the ancients called

a clever fighter is one who not only

wins, but excels in winning

with ease.”  Sun Tzu


“Rouse him, and learn

the principle of his activity or inactivity.

Force him to reveal himself, so as to

find out his vulnerable spots.”  Sun Tzu


“You have to believe in yourself.”  Sun Tzu


“If the mind is willing,

the flesh could go on and on

without many things.”  Sun Tzu


“Thus the expert in

battle moves the enemy, and

is not moved by him.”  Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu Quotes on Strategy

“Attack is the secret

of defense, defense is the

planning of an attack.”  Sun Tzu


“Great results

can be achieved with

small forces.”  Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu Quotes on Strategy


“Ponder and

deliberate before you

make a move.”  Sun Tzu


“If quick, I survive.

If not quick, I am lost.

This is ‘death’.”  Sun Tzu


“Ultimate excellence lies

not in winning every battle, but in

defeating the enemy without

ever fighting.”  Sun Tzu


“If you ignore both: your

enemy and yourself, you are

certain to be in peril.”  Sun Tzu


“Move not unless you see

an advantage, use not your troops unless

there is something to be gained, fight

not unless the position is critical.”  Sun Tzu


“Wheels of justice grind slow but grind fine.”  Sun Tzu


“It is easy to love your

friend, but sometimes the hardest

lesson to learn is to love

your enemy.”  Sun Tzu


“If his forces are united, separate them.”  Sun Tzu


“You can’t trust

a man, who has nothing

to lose.”  Sun Tzu


“Plan for what is

difficult while it is easy,

do what is great while

it is small.”  Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu Quotes on Leadership

“If he sends reinforcements

everywhere, he will be weak

everywhere.”  Sun Tzu


“Be where your enemy is not.”  Sun Tzu


Sun Tzu Quotes on Leadership


“An enemy is a friend

who knows too much

about you.”  Sun Tzu


“Disorder came from

order, fear came from courage,

weakness came from

strength.”  Sun Tzu


“If your friend is friends

with your enemy, it means that

you should not hang out

with this friend.”  Sun Tzu


“Beware of sugar that is

mixed with poison, beware

of the fly that sat on

a dead snake.”  Sun Tzu


“Who does not

know the evils of war cannot

appreciate its benefits.”  Sun Tzu


“Therefore, just as water

retains no constant shape, so

in warfare there are no

constant conditions.”  Sun Tzu


“Regard your soldiers as your

children, and they will follow you

into the deepest valleys, look

on them as your own

beloved sons.”  Sun Tzu


“A leader leads by example not by force.”  Sun Tzu


“He will win who knows

how to handle both superior

and inferior forces.”  Sun Tzu


“In making tactical

dispositions, the highest pitch

you can attain is to

conceal them.”  Sun Tzu


“Strategy without tactics is

the slowest route to victory. Tactics

without strategy is noise

before defeat.”  Sun Tzu


“The captured soldiers

should be kindly treated

and kept.”  Sun Tzu


“One need not destroy

one’s enemy. One need only

destroy his willingness

to engage.”  Sun Tzu


“Every animal with

blood in its veins and horns on

its head will fight when

it is attacked.”  Sun Tzu


“Never trust a friend

who is silent about

your flaws.”  Sun Tzu

Greatest Sun Tzu Quotes

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”


“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”


“If you know the enemy and know yourself, 
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”


“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”


“All warfare is based on deception.”


“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, 
while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”


“The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”


“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, 
but on our readiness to receive him.”


“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”


“The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat 
and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.”


SUN TZU

(A Chinese general, 544 BC – 496 BC) 

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