Art of War 1.10
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Laying Plans 計篇
法者曲制官道主用也
By Method and discipline are to be understood the marshalling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the gradations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
Lionel Giles's notes
The Chinese of this sentence is so concise as to be practically unintelligible without commentary. I have followed the interpretation of Ts‘ao Kung, who joins 曲制 and again 主用. Others take each of the six predicates separately. 曲 has the somewhat uncommon sense of “cohort” or division of an army. Capt. Calthrop translates: “Partition and ordering of troops,” which only covers 曲制.
Character glossary
- 法fǎlaw, rule, statute; method, way; French
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 曲qūcrooked, bent; wrong, false
- 制zhìsystem; to establish; to manufacture; to
- 官guānofficial, public servant
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 主zhǔto own; to host; master; host; lord
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.