War is
A grave affair of the state;
It is a place of life and death,
A road
To survival and extinction,
A matter
To be pondered carefully.
(p.3)
A ruler
Must never
Mobilize his men
Out of anger;
A general must never
Engage [in] battle
Out of spite…
Anger
Can turn to
Pleasure;
Spite
Can turn to
Joy.
But a nation destroyed
Cannot be put back together again;
A dead man
Cannot be brought back to life.
So the enlightened ruler
Is prudent;
The effective general
Is cautious.
This is the Way
To keep a nation
At peace
And an army
Intact.
(pp.87-88)
Ultimate excellence lies
Not in winning
Every battle
But in defeating the enemy
Without ever fighting.
The highest form of warfare
Is to attack [the enemy’s]
Strategy itself;
The next,
To attack [his]
Alliances;
The next,
To attack
Armies;
The lowest form of war is
To attack
Cities;
Siege warfare
Is the last resort…
The Skillful Strategist
Defeats the enemy
Without doing battle,
Captures the city
Without laying siege,
Overthrow the enemy state
Without protracted war.
(pp.14-16)
Feign inability
When deploying troops,
Appear not to be.
When near,
Appear far;
When far,
Appear near.
(p.6)
The victorious army
Is victorious first
And seeks battle later;
The defeated army
Does battle first
And seeks victory later.
(p.23)
Sources:
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by John Minford. (New York, NY: Viking, 2002).
Henry Kissinger. On China. (New York, NY: The Penguin Press,2011).
