Art of War 10.9
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Terrain 地形篇
若敵先居之盈而勿從不盈而從之
Should the enemy forestall you in occupying a pass, do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned, but only if it is weakly garrisoned.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Character glossary
- 若ruòif, supposing, assuming; similar
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 先xiānfirst, former, previous
- 居jūto live, to reside; to dwell; to sit
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 盈yíngfull, overflowing; surplus; to fill
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 勿wùmust not, do not; without, never
- 從cóngfrom, by, since, whence, through
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 10.11
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Art of War 7.34
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Art of War 10.8
- Art of War 10.10
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.