Chapter 6 Weak and Strong Points- Weakness and Swiftness

“9. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.
10. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy’s weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.
11. If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.
12. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.
13. By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided.
14. We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few.
15. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.”
Sun Tzu, Master Sun
Art of War
Quoted in The Art of War, Translated by Lionel Giles, Offered by The Project Gutenberg eBook

a group of people

By being invisible and inaudible
You make the enemy tremble

Engage on weakness
Evade on swiftness

Force engagement through movement
Prevent engagement through oddment

Make your forces unite
While your enemy divide

2 Comments

  1. Posted October 10, 2007 at 8:54 am | Permalink

    i like this view of being effective without being overtly forceful. I also admire how Sun Tzu’s advice on how to tactfully fight against stronger forces can still be utilized years from when he first intended it to be used.

  2. Posted October 10, 2007 at 9:22 am | Permalink

    Yea Miki. I was excited how useful Sun Tzu’s advice is even now.

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