Art of War 11.17
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
合於利而動不合於利而止
When it was to their advantage, they made a forward move; when otherwise, they stopped still.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
Mei Yao-ch‘ên connects this with the foregoing: 然能使敵若此當須有利則動無利則止 “Having succeeded in thus dislocating the enemy, they would push forward in order to secure any advantage to be gained; if there was no advantage to be gained, they would remain where they were.”
Character glossary
- 合héto combine, to join, to unite; to gather
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 利lìgains, advantage, profit, merit
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 動dòngto move, to happen; movement, action
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 止zhǐto stop, to halt; to detain; to desist
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 12.19
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Zhuangzi The Empire
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
- Analects 4.12
- Art of War 8.8
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.