The Art of War
Did Sun Tzu Really Say That?
Sixteen lines that get pinned on Sun Tzu, held up against every verse of The Art of War.
Sun Tzu gets credited with a lot of lines he never wrote. One of the best known comes from a gangster film. Others are his ideas in somebody else's words, smoothed out for a poster or a business book. A few are his, word for word. The sixteen below were searched for in the complete text of Lionel Giles' 1910 translation, all 383 verses. Where a real verse stands behind a quote, it is printed in full with its chapter and number, so you can check it yourself.
The score: 4 are his words as Giles has them, 7 are reworded, 5 are not in the book.
“All warfare is based on deception.”
His words
Six words, and probably the line people quote most. The verse after it says what he means by deception.
“All warfare is based on deception.”
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
His words
Exactly as Giles has it. Posters often stop after the night and lose the thunderbolt.
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
His words
Real, and it keeps going: the same verse tells you what happens when you know only one of the two, or neither.
“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
“Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”
His words
Real. It sits in a run of short tricks for unsettling an opponent.
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”
“There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”
Reworded
Fair enough. Giles wrote country, not nation.
“There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Reworded
The idea is his; the wording is not Giles'. Giles puts it more carefully: winning every battle is not the best result there is.
“Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
Reworded
Another translator's rendering of a real verse. Giles' version is plainer.
“Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”
“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons, and they will follow you into the deepest valley.”
Reworded
The popular version swaps the halves. In Giles, soldiers treated as children follow you into the valleys; treated as beloved sons, they stand by you even unto death.
“Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.”
“Quickness is the essence of war.”
Reworded
One word changed and the rest of the sentence dropped. Giles goes straight on to say what the speed is for.
“Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.”
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
Reworded
A neat summary of two real verses, I.19 and I.22. Neither of them says it like this.
“Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
“Every battle is won before it is ever fought.”
Reworded
A paraphrase. What Sun Tzu praises is narrower: the general who does his sums in the temple before the fighting starts.
“Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.”
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Not in the book
Michael Corleone says it in The Godfather Part II (1974). The word friends does not occur anywhere in Giles' translation.
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Not in the book
Not in Giles. The nearest verse says something else: that an army can look disordered without being in disorder at all.
“Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat.”
“To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.”
Not in the book
Sun Tzu asks you to know the enemy. He never asks you to become him.
“Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.”
“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”
Not in the book
There is no golden bridge in Giles. The thought behind it is real, though, and blunter.
“When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.”
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”
Not in the book
Not in Giles. He uses the word opportunity twice, in IV.1 and IV.2, and the second time he says outright that the enemy provides it.
“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
Questions
Did Sun Tzu say “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”?
No. The line is from The Godfather Part II (1974). The Art of War never mentions friends at all.
What is Sun Tzu's most famous quote?
Probably “All warfare is based on deception” (I.18), with “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” (III.18) close behind.
Which translation are these quotes checked against?
Lionel Giles' translation of 1910, all 383 verses. Many of the English lines people know come from it.
For the real lines, thirty of them, see Sun Tzu quotes from The Art of War. For what each chapter is about, there is a chapter-by-chapter summary.
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