Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
- Date
- c. 5th century BCE
- English wording
- Lionel Giles — Translator · from Classical Chinese
Meaning of “If you know the enemy and know yourself,…”
Accurate understanding of both one’s own capabilities and the opposing side reduces avoidable strategic surprise and miscalculation.
Where does it come from?
The Art of War, Chapter III “Attack by Stratagem,” section 18, Lionel Giles translation (1910), beginning on printed page 24 / scan leaf 80 and continuing onto printed page 25 / scan leaf 81 in the original Giles edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. The enemy/self-knowledge sentence closes Chapter III’s discussion of conditions for victory and remains translation-mediated military strategy rather than a modern psychological or self-help claim.
