Art of War 5.6
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Energy 埶篇
故善出奇者無窮如天地不竭如江河終而復始日月是也死而復生四時是也
Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams;
like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away but to return once more.
Lionel Giles's notes
奇 is the universally accepted emendation for 兵, the reading of the 北堂書鈔.
Tu Yu and Chang Yü understand this of the permutations of 奇 and 正. But at present Sun Tzŭ is not speaking of 正 at all, unless, indeed, we suppose with 鄭友賢 Chêng Yu-hsien that a clause relating to it has fallen out of the text. Of course, as has already been pointed out, the two are so inextricably interwoven in all military operations, that they cannot really be considered apart. Here we simply have an expression, in figurative language, of the almost infinite resource of a great leader.
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 出chūto go out, to send out; stand; produce
- 奇qístrange, unusual, odd; uncanny, occult
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 窮qióngpoor, destitute; to exhaust
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 竭jiéto exhaust; to put forth great effort
- 江jiānglarge river; the Yangtze; surname
- 河hériver, stream; the Yellow river
- 終zhōngend; finally, in the end
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 復fùagain, repeatedly; copy, duplicate; to r
- 始shǐto begin, to start; beginning
- 日rìsun; day; daytime
- 月yuèmoon; month
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 也yěalso, too
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
- 四sìfour
- 時shítime, season; period, era, age
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Zhuangzi Perfect Happiness
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 74
- Zhuangzi Robber Chê
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Zhuangzi The Empire
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.