The Art of War by Sun Tzu (elon musk reading list TXT) 📕

shall succeed in the long run676 in killing the commander-in-chief.677

This is called ability to accomplish a thing by sheer cunning.678

On the day that you take up your command,679 block the frontier passes,680 destroy the official tallies,681 and stop the passage of all emissaries.682

Be stern in the council-chamber,683 so that you may control the situation.684

If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.685

Forestall your opponent by seizing what he holds dear,686 and subtly contrive to time his arrival on the ground.687

Walk in the path defined by rule,688 and accommodate yourself to the enemy until you can fight a decisive battle.689

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.690

XII The Attack by Fire691

Sun Tzǔ said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp;692 the second is to burn stores;693 the third is to burn baggage trains;694 the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines;695 the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.696

In order to carry out an attack, we must have means available;697 the material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness.698

There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting a conflagration.699

The proper season is when the weather is very dry; the special days are those when the moon is in the constellations of the Sieve, the Wall, the Wing or the Crossbar;700 for these four are all days of rising wind.701

In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments:702

When fire breaks out inside the enemy’s camp, respond at once703 with an attack from without.

If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy’s soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack.704

When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, stay where you are.705

If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favourable moment.706

When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward.707

A wind that rises in the daytime lasts long, but a night breeze soon falls.708

In every army, the five developments connected with fire must be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for the proper days.709

Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence;710 those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.711

By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings.712

Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.713

Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.714

Move not unless you see an advantage;715 use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.716

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.717

If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.718

Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.719

But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being;720 nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.721 This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.722

XIII The Use of Spies723

Sun Tzǔ said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver.724 There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways.725 As many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labour.726

Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy’s condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments,727 is the height of inhumanity.728

One who acts thus is no leader of men, no present help to his sovereign,729 no master of victory.730

Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.731

Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits;732 it