Art of War 11.60
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
故爲兵之事在於順詳敵之意
Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
Ts‘ao Kung says: 佯愚也 “Feign stupidity” — by an appearance of yielding and falling in with the enemy’s wishes. Chang Yü’s note makes the meaning clear: “If the enemy shows an inclination to advance, lure him on to do so; if he is anxious to retreat, delay on purpose that he may carry out his intention.” The object is to make him remiss and contemptuous before we deliver our attack.
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 事shìaffair, matter, business; to serve; acci
- 在zàiat, in, on; to exist; used to indicate t
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 順shùnto submit to, to obey, to go along with
- 詳xiángcomplete, detailed, thorough
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 意yìthought, idea, opinion; desire, wish; me
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 4A.11
- Art of War 7.23
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi Opening Trunks
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi The Empire
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.