“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Work
Compiled during the Warring States period of 475-221 B.C.E., <i>The Art of War</i> has had an enormous impact on the development of Chinese military strategy over the past two thousand years and occupies an important place in East Asian intellectual history. It is the first known attempt to formulate a rational basis for the planning and conduct of military operations, and while numerous editions of the work exist, Victor Mair's translation is the first to remain true to the original structure and essential style of the text.<br> <br> Mair's fidelity to the original, along with his insightful commentary and reliance on archaeologically recovered manuscripts, breaks new ground in solving <i>The Art of War</i>'s difficult textual and contextual problems. He confronts complex questions concerning the authorship of the work, asserting that Sun Wu, a supposed strategist of the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B.C.E.) to whom the text is traditionally attributed, never existed. Instead, Mair claims that <i>The Art of War</i> coalesced over a period of around seventy-five years, from the middle of the fourth century to the first quarter of the third century B.C.E.<br> <br> Mair also reveals the way <i>The Art of War</i> reflects historical developments in technological and military strategy in civilizations throughout Eurasia, especially in regards to iron metallurgy. He demonstrates the close link between the philosophy in <i>The Art of War</i> and Taoism and discusses the reception of the text from the classical period to today. Finally, Mair highlights previously unaddressed stylistic and statistical aspects and includes philological annotations that present new ways of approaching the intellectual and social background of the work. A phenomenal achievement, Mair's comprehensive translation is an indispensable resource for today's students, strategists, and scholars.
Quotes
Showing 1-8 of 8
Sunzi
Canonical work source
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”
“But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”
“Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the e...”
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
“There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combina...”
“You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.”
“The wise warrior avoids the battle.”