Art of War 3.9
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Attack By Stratagem 謀攻篇
敵則能戰之少則能逃之不若則能避之
If equally matched, we can offer battle;
if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy;
if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
Lionel Giles's notes
Li Ch‘üan, followed by Ho Shih, gives the following paraphrase: 主客力敵惟善者戰 “If attackers and attacked are equally matched in strength, only the able general will fight.” He thus takes 能 as though it were 能者, which is awkward.
The T‘u Shu has 守 instead of 逃, which is hardly distinguishable in sense from 避 in the next clause. The meaning, “we can watch the enemy,” is certainly a great improvement on the above; but unfortunately there appears to be no very good authority for the variant. Chang Yü reminds us that the saying only applies if the other factors are equal; a small difference in numbers is often more than counterbalanced by superior energy and discipline.
Character glossary
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 能néngcan, may; capable, full of energy
- 戰zhànwar, fighting, battle
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 少shǎofew, little; less; inadequate
- 逃táoto abscond, to dodge, to escape, to flee
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 若ruòif, supposing, assuming; similar
- 避bìto avoid, to turn away; to escape, to hi
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Contingencies
- Hexagram 60
- Art of War 11.54
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 23
- Mencius 5A.1
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.