Art of War 5.23
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Energy 埶篇
故善戰人之埶如轉圓石於千仞之山者埶也
Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height. So much on the subject of energy.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
The T‘ung Tien omits 善. The chief lesson of this chapter, in Tu Mu’s opinion, is the paramount importance in war of rapid evolutions and sudden rushes. “Great results,” he adds, “can thus be achieved with small forces.”
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 戰zhànwar, fighting, battle
- 人rénman, person; people
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 埶yìart
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 轉zhuǎnto move, to convey; to turn, to revolve,
- 圓yuáncircle; circular, round; complete
- 石shístone, rock, mineral
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 千qiānthousand; many, numerous; very
- 仞rènancient unit of measure (about 8 feet);
- 山shānmountain, hill, peak
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 5.22
- Art of War 5.12
- Art of War 4.20
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Art of War 5.15
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.