Art of War 1.12
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Laying Plans 計篇
故校之以計而索其情
Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:—
Lionel Giles's notes
The Yü Lan has an interpolated 五 before 計. It is obvious, however, that the 五者 just enumerated cannot be described as 計. Capt. Calthrop, forced to give some rendering of the words which he had omitted in § 3, shows himself decidedly hazy: “Further, with regard to these and the following seven matters, the condition of the enemy must be compared with our own.” He does not appear to see that the seven queries or considerations which follow arise directly out of the Five heads, instead of being supplementary to them.
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 校xiàoschool; military field officer
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 計jìto calculate, to count; to plan, to reck
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 索suǒcable, rope; rules, laws; to demand, to
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 情qíngemotion, feeling, sentiment
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 1.3
- Analects 19.19
- Mencius 6A.6
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi On Letting Alone
- Zhuangzi The Universe
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.