Ideas from L'Art de la guerre
By Sun Tzu
178 ideas
Sample Ideas
- Mastery of variation in tactics is the key to properly handling troops.
- Deception is the fundamental principle of warfare, requiring the cultivation of false appearances to manipulate the enemy’s perceptions and behavior.
- Prioritize combined energy over individual exertion: select the right men and harness collective momentum like rolling logs or stones.
- The general is the state’s bulwark; his completeness makes the state strong, his defects make it weak.
- Restlessness and distrust within the army invite external interference and squander victory.
- Build security on readiness and unassailable positions, not on hoping the enemy will not come or attack.
- River operations demand standoff and timing: move away after crossing, attack only after part of the enemy has crossed, and avoid midstream or upstream engagements.
- An integrated system of five types of spies—local, inward, converted, doomed, and surviving—enables undetectable, ‘divine’ manipulation of the enemy and is a sovereign’s most precious faculty.
- Situational prescriptions: avoid encampment in difficult country, join allies at crossroads, shun isolated positions; use stratagem when hemmed-in and fight when desperate.
- Encampment and movement in mountains should be swift through passes, with camps on high, sunny positions and avoidance of climbing heights to fight.