Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding.
The path that leads to truth is littered with the bodies of the ignorant.
If you fail to take advantage of your enemies' collapse, they may recover.
Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this.
You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain
When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy.
With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view.
In time, all things work to your advantage when you pursue them with an open heart.
Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor the mind be dragged along by the body
Unless you really understand others, you can hardly attain your own self-understanding.
If you do not look at things on a large scale, it will be difficult to master strategy.
The warrior is different in that studying the Way of strategy is based on overcoming men
...most warriors only perform tricks. The way of the warrior is filled with soul and feeling
Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.
The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win
Cutting down the enemy is the way of strategy, and there is no need for many refinements of it.
You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.
No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible
Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.
There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.
The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions
There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas
All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them
In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about.
When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.
If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains.
Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the ways of different arts one by one.
If there is a Way involving the spirit of not being defeated, to help oneself and gain honour, it is the Way of Strategy.
It is imperative to master the principles of the art of war and learn to be unmoved in mind even in the heat of the battle.
When your opponent is hurrying recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced by the opponent.
See to it that you temper yourself with one thousand days of practice, and refine yourself with ten thousand days of training.
The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you can take the initiative, the halberd is defensive.
If you are not progressing along the true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be pondered well.
When you have attained the way of strategy there will be nothing that you cannot understand. You will see the way in everything.
In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness.
If you learn indoor techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters.
A bullet from a gun does not make a distinction between practice and combat. You are training to be one and the same way in your life
You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.
When you attack the enemy, your spirit must go to the extent of pulling the stakes out of a wall and using them as spears and halberds.
In all forms of strategy, it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in everyday life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance.
When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally.
The bow is tactically strong at the commencement of battle, especially battles on a moor, as it is possible to shoot quickly among the spearmen.
If you want to learn the craft of war, ponder over this book. The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice constantly.
Always return your weapon along the same path it traveled out on. In this way you can use it again without having to relocate and rethink our attitude.
Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.
A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study.
People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment.
Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.
This is truth: When you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon as yet undrawn.