Art of War 4.1
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Tactical Dispositions 形篇
孫子曰昔之善戰者先爲不可勝以待敵之可勝
Sun Tzŭ said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Character glossary
- 孫sūngrandchild, descendent; surname
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 昔xīpast, former; ancient
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 戰zhànwar, fighting, battle
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 先xiānfirst, former, previous
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 勝shèngvictory; to excel, to truimph
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 待dàito entertain, to receive, to treat; to d
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Art of War 6.1
- Art of War 10.8
- Art of War 10.10
- Art of War 3.17
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.