Art of War 13.17
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Use Of Spies 用間篇
非微妙不能得間之實
Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
Mei Yao-ch‘ên says: “Be on your guard against the possibility of spies going over to the service of the enemy.” The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 密 for 妙.
Character glossary
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 微wēismall, tiny, trifling; micro-
- 妙miàomysterious, subtle; clever, exquisite, w
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 能néngcan, may; capable, full of energy
- 得déto obtain, to get, to acquire; suitable,
- 間jiānbetween, among; midpoint; space, place,
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 實shíreal, true; honest, sincere
Passages with shared wording
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 15
- Zhuangzi Perfect Happiness
- Art of War 13.25
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
- Zhuangzi Lieh Tzŭ
- Mencius 4A.27
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.