Art of War 6.28
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Weak Points And Strong 虛實篇
故其戰勝不復而應形於無窮
Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
Lionel Giles's notes
As Wang Hsi sagely remarks: “There is but one root-principle (理) underlying victory, but the tactics (形) which lead up to it are infinite in number.” With this compare Col. Henderson; “The rules of strategy are few and simple. They may be learned in a week. They may be taught by familiar illustrations or a dozen diagrams. But such knowledge will no more teach a man to lead an army like Napoleon than a knowledge of grammar will teach him to write like Gibbon.”
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 戰zhànwar, fighting, battle
- 勝shèngvictory; to excel, to truimph
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 復fùagain, repeatedly; copy, duplicate; to r
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 應yīngshould, must; to respond, to handle; to
- 形xíngform, shape; to appear; to describe; to
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 窮qióngpoor, destitute; to exhaust
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 4.13
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
- Art of War 5.6
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 27
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- The Great Learning Passage 3
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.