Quote Atlassourced quotes & context
Named source · c. 5th century BCE

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

2 quotations linked to The Art of War — Waging War by or associated with Sun Tzu, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

About this source

Chapter II, “Waging War,” of The Art of War, represented in Lionel Giles’s 1910 English translation

Topics and ideas

Conflict duration, resource cost, strategic objectives, leadership, time and the historical military argument against prolonged campaigns.

English wording

Translation

Lionel Giles — Translator · Classical Chinese → English

The wording shown here follows the represented English edition or translation.

Why the edition matters

Translations and editions can differ in wording, punctuation and emphasis, so the source attached to each quotation matters when exact phrasing is important.

Read the source

Open a public or archival text connected with these quotations

Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.

Primary / edition source · en.wikisource.org ↗ Primary / edition source · en.wikisource.org ↗
Leading themes in this source

Prominent ideas connected with the quotations represented here

Decision 2Leadership 2Short 2Time 2Conflict 2Goals 1Responsibility 1Wisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living Well 1Focus 1
Represented passages

2 quotations with source context and meaning

Source identified1
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Read & copy

“In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.”

Sun Tzu
Meaning & context

The objective should govern the campaign; activity that continues without advancing the actual goal wastes resources and creates new vulnerabilities.

Source details

The Art of War, Chapter II “Waging War,” section 19, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 16 / scan leaf 72 in Giles’s original full edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns” is the chapter’s concluding strategic principle immediately before the statement about the commander and the people’s fate. It remains ancient battlefield/statecraft argument, not current military operational advice or a context-free productivity maxim.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified2
There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
Read & copy

“There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”

Sun Tzu
Meaning & context

Long conflict consumes strength and resources, so duration itself becomes a strategic cost even before the outcome is decided.

Source details

The Art of War, Chapter II “Waging War,” section 6, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 12 / scan leaf 68 in Giles’s original full edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare” closes the opening argument about weapons, strength, treasure and state resources being exhausted by a protracted campaign. It remains ancient military-strategy argument in translation, not a generic business, relationship or current geopolitical rule.

↓ Download image (JPG)

More represented works

Continue through other sources by Sun Tzu

The Art of War — Attack by Stratagemc. 5th century BCE · 3 quotations
The Art of War — Laying Plansc. 5th century BCE · 1 quotation
The Art of War — Tactical Dispositionsc. 5th century BCE · 1 quotation
The Art of War — The Nine Situationsc. 5th century BCE · 1 quotation