Art of War 6.1
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Weak Points And Strong 虛實篇
孫子曰凡先處戰地而待敵者佚後處戰地而趨戰者勞
Sun Tzŭ said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle, will arrive exhausted.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
Instead of 處, the Yü Lan has in both clauses the stronger word 據. For the antithesis between 佚 and 勞, cf. I. § 23, where however 勞 is used as a verb.
Character glossary
- 孫sūngrandchild, descendent; surname
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 凡fánany, every, all; common, ordinary
- 先xiānfirst, former, previous
- 處chùto reside at, to live in; place, locale;
- 戰zhànwar, fighting, battle
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 待dàito entertain, to receive, to treat; to d
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 佚yìto indulge in pleasures; to flee
- 後hòuafter; behind, rear; descendants
- 趨qūto hurry, to hasten; to approach, to be
- 勞láoto labor, to toil; to do manual work
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 6.20
- Zhuangzi Lieh Tzŭ
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Art of War 4.1
- Art of War 9.31
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.