The Art of War

By Sun Tzu and Lionel Giles

The world's most influential treatise on strategy

Mao Zedong used it to defeat Chiang Kai-shek. Colin Powell thinks every US soldier should be familiar with its principles. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick built a football dynasty out of lessons learned within its pages. Even Gordon Gekko and Tony Soprano are fans.


In the twenty-five hundred years since it was composed, The Art of War has been applied to just about every field of human endeavor. Sun Tzu's shrewd advice is indispensible to anyone seeking to gain an advantage over an opponent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Mar 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480477032

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general and military strategist who lived during the Eastern Zhou period of ancient China. He is credited with writing The Art of War, a study of battlefield tactics with profound insight into human nature that has influenced readers over millennia. Lionel Giles was a British scholar, writer, and philosopher born in 1875. He was assistant curator at the British Museum and is best known for his translations of The Art of War and The Analects of Confucius.

Book preview

I. Laying Plans

1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.

4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.

5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.

10. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.

12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:—

13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.

15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:—let such a one be dismissed!

16. While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.

17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.

18. All warfare is based on deception.

19. 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.

20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.

22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear

Reviews for The Art of War

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

you kind of have to read this, yah. so privately canonized.

[bfertig_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a manual and reads like one. Better to take in very small doses, digest and discuss rather than to read continuously.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very quick read of a classic. I had always been meaning to get around to this book, and I did not realize how short it was. The version I have contains more commentary than the actual writing, and I did not bother with the commentary.

The book is basically a series of maxims that describe how to lead as a general at war. I think its appeal is universal, and many of the ideas can be applied as strategic thinking in other aspects of life. I don't think it was all that profound, but then again, its ideas have been used for centuries. It was nice to be able to read where a lot of them came from.

[dverdecia-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tactics and strategies that apply to everyday life. This book is excellent reading to make you think about how to deal with the day to day struggles of life. It helps you position you versus your opponent. Your opponent need not be any one person. It could be a corporation. It could be an establishment. It could be a situation you are facing. I was once told that what you get out of a book is the effort you put into a book. It is my hope that this book can help someone master how they deal with day to day life. Let me know what you think. By the way, how many Enron or Worldcomm employees do you think read this book?

On another note, I would ask that you do not take this book literally. It is laced with allegory and a ton of symbolism. Please take its contents and apply them to your life for the good of all.

[chellerystick · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pretty dull going, even by audiobook. The narrators were great, though, and there were times that the footnotes saved me.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic! Well worth the read, and looking forward to reading again in the future.

[paven-14534 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Interesting if you are going to role play a general or ambitious warrior.

[colie77 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I honestly have no idea why this is always on the list of must-read books. You are basically reading the bullet points of someone's strategic plan to win a battle. Meh. At least it was only an hour and a half.

[spoko_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many of Sun Tzu's ideas are common-sense enough, but succinctly put here. It's a quick, easy read, so it's not hard to make the case that it's worth the time. But gliding through it effortlessly will make it difficult for the ideas to really stick. So I guess it's also easy to make the case for at least one re-read. I'll probably give it another go myself in the near future, but for now I'm happy with the bits and pieces I've gleaned. It certainly didn't change my life or anything, but then I didn't expect it to.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tempted to give it four stars because it is so much better than so much other Heinlein. But that's not worth much, actually. I did have to edit the blurb, however.

[holymunstertito · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These teachings can be applied to many chores using the principles of actions, anytime, anywhere.

[whbiii · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Vapid martial homilies.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“Move not unless you see an advantage, use not your troops unless there is something to be gained, fight not unless the position is critical.”

I read The Art of War by Sun Tzu through an app called Serial Reader, which breaks up longer books, novellas and short stories into manageable pieces that a reader can read in 12 minutes a day. I love to use Serial Reader when I’m waiting for the bus, in the line at the post office, whenever I feel like I have a few moments, but not necessarily long enough to take out a book and find my place.

I also really like Serial Reader because I tend to read things I wouldn’t otherwise read, but so far I’ve really enjoyed all the stories and novels that I’ve read.

I found The Art of War to be surprisingly readable, considering it was written around the 5th century, BCE and has been translated countless times since then. It’s much more philosophical than I had anticipated, and in a way, deeply spiritual.

Of course it’s dry. It is. It is an ancient military self-help book, none of it is relevant to me. There are lots of lists about the different kinds of ground an army might fight on, different types of weather, how to traverse it all.

And yet I found it interesting.

I appreciated that this translator (and, I suppose, author) warned against fighting at all. If you want to occupy a town, best to get the enemy to surrender to you painlessly, so that the town is in tact and nothing is destroyed. Sun Tzu really speaks to the desperation of war, how the last thing anyone wants to do in a war is fight, but if you have to fight, this is what you need to do.

I’m glad I read this text. I often found myself reading it and wondering about all the people, leaders, warriors, stay-at-home mothers who’d read it before, who were reading it with me. What did they learn from it? How did they feel reading it? Was it more relevant to their lives than it was to mine?

That, in and of itself, is a fascinating thing to think about, don’t you think?

[shahnareads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Defiantly some good tips in here. I can see why other countries armies are so well disciplined if they still use these tactics. Some of them could also work for dealing with people as well. Some handy things in here.

It's easy to read, but he repeats things a lot, and some of the sentence are worded strangely. And then, some lines are written like poetry.

It was a something different, and I'm glad I picked it up.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm so glad I finally read this historic book. I found it very interesting and understand why it has been adapted to suit other fields -- notably management. And the version of the book I bought is beautiful in itself. Bound in traditional Chinese style, with each page folded in half and only printed on the outside. Hard to rate -- it is what it is as they say -- but I'm rating it highly because it has stood the test of time.

[spooks101-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An enduring classic, an absolute must-read for every business person and military mind the world over.

[madepercy-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read this several times in a variety of translations. This version is formatted like a poem and is a quick read. Interesting that Sun Tzu echoes many of the issues raised by Thucydides. I remember an Instructor Gunnery during my Regimental Officers Basic Course from the United States artillery beginning every lesson with: "Sun Tzu says...". And, "If a 155 round lands on a tank, the tank is toast". So much in such a short book and it was quite possibly written before Thucydides was born.

[beammey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book, to be honest. I just made a promise to myself I would read more classics and this was a short one to get in so I can reach my reading goal. However, I ended up really, really enjoying it. I'm not a soldier by any stretch of the imagination, but there is good, solid advice in this book that is still relevant thousands of years after it was written. It's worth a read for sure, and it's so short you can get through it quickly. I would recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

[kamgeb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

During a sermon, the rabbi talked about this book and said that it was really a philosophy on how to live life. When I started reading it, I saw that it really is a book on how to wage war. Definitely not what I expected and definitely not a book I would ever want to read.

[jculkin-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this and let my mind wander a little, but not too much. Invariably whatever I think about mixes with the words, and elegant, clear observations come out. It's like guided meditation.

[michael_rose-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The version I have also has a second section for commentaries on all the passages. It's an incredibly useful and insightful book, and not necessarily just for literal war.

[areadingmachine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone should read this.

It tells you as much about motivation and human compunction than any other book Ive ever read. This should be required reading for teachers, businessmen, cops, everyone that every has to deal with a group of people in a possibly hostile setting.

[trilliams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's amazing that this advice is still quite relevant 2500 years after the fact. Some of it, of course, isn't, but that'll happen. The historical allusions in Giles' translation/commentary are pretty useful, though occasionally it gets really deep into Chinese history and you forget who you are and what you're reading. What dynasty are we in again?

[jimocracy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The original book was interesting but the commentary portion of the book was insightful. I liked hearing perspective on Master Sun's work from other ancient military leaders.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating. My particular copy (an audiobook) included modern comparisons between each chapter which was horribly annoying. The observations in the book maintain their usefulness to the present.

[saltvand-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I decided to read The Art of War because of references to it in the best/only good general marketing book I read during my commerce education: Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. I was curious to see why a modern marketing handbook would have references to a classic handbook in ancient warfare, and why The Art of War is such a famous book.

I can see now why the book is famous: it is because its warfare principles are generally applicable to competitive situations - including marketing and politics (maybe office politics too?)

I expected a heavy brick of an analytic strategy book, but it is the opposite: a thin, minimalist poetry book.

It is a piece of art. The pattern of words is aesthetically pleasing and produces vivid imagery of ancient armies moving and camping in harsh terrains; yet the strange scenery and poetic style conveys core strategic principles for competition with great accuracy.

Essentially, The Art of War encourages careful consideration of the dynamics of all situational variables (listing them), and discourages impulsive and dumb warfare, which is any warfare driven by an irrational motive, or which can not be won quickly with minimal loss.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very fundamental axioms of strategies put forward by an ancient Chinese general. Influential even today not only in military matters but in the business world as well.

[mgeorge2755 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Quite possibly the most influential book on military tactics of all time. I was incredibly surprised by its brevity. A must-read for any historian. 

[joeyee-4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Don't like this edition. The history is boring and confusing (chi, Ch'i, ch'i all mean different things) 1 star for the edition and history part.

The actual Art of War is good. 3 stars.

[dtn620 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There was a lot of repetition in this book, but maybe it's to enforce some of the most important things to remember when conducting a war.

I was surprised by how much from this ancient text seems applicable today. I guess that can be chalked up to the knowledge and foresight of Sun Tzu, as well as our sad inability to change our violent ways.

One particular bit of text seemed particularly relevant:

When the army engages in protracted campaigns the resources of the state will not suffice.

Good advice.