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Know Yourself, Know Your Enemy
Victory comes from understanding both your own capabilities and your opponent's. Self-deception is the first defeat.
Ancient strategies for conflict, competition, and life
Victory comes from understanding both your own capabilities and your opponent's. Self-deception is the first defeat.
The highest skill is achieving your goals without destruction. Breaking resistance through strategy beats breaking it through force.
Appear weak when strong, strong when weak. Control what others perceive and you control their decisions.
A swift, decisive action beats prolonged campaigns. Time drains resources, morale, and opportunity.
Strike where resistance is lowest. Water flows around obstacles — so should your efforts.
Make your opponent react to you, not the reverse. Those who arrive first at the battlefield control the terms.
Rigid plans break under pressure. Adapt your strategy to circumstances like water adapts to its container.
Terrain shapes possibility. Whether physical, social, or market — master your environment before engaging.
Divided leadership means divided purpose. One clear vision, communicated well, moves armies.
Excellence must be recognized, failures addressed. Consistent standards create reliable forces.
Information is the foundation of victory. Invest heavily in knowing what others wish to hide.
Don't wait for the perfect moment — manufacture it. Disorder in the enemy comes from your own order.
Soldiers fight hardest with no retreat. Sometimes removing options focuses the mind on victory.
Victory is determined before battle begins through planning. The general who calculates more, wins more.
Never attack an enemy's greatest strength directly. Go around, go under, go where they aren't looking.
Position yourself where small actions create large results. Rolling a stone downhill takes less force than pushing uphill.
Unpredictability is protection. When your enemy cannot anticipate you, they cannot prepare for you.
Not every battle is worth winning. Choose engagements that advance your ultimate goal, decline those that don't.