The Art of War — Attack by Stratagem Quotes by Sun Tzu: Context & Meanings

The Art of War, Chapter III “Attack by Stratagem,” section 17, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 24 / scan leaf 80 in the original Giles edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight” is the first of five listed military essentials for victory; it remains battlefield-strategy judgment rather than a context-free maxim about every disagreement.

The Art of War, Chapter III “Attack by Stratagem,” section 2, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 17 / scan leaf 73 in the original Giles edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting” contrasts mere battlefield victory with achieving the strategic objective without direct combat. This remains ancient military-strategy argument in translation, not generic advice for business, relationships or ordinary personal conflict.

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.