Art of War 8.11
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Variation Of Tactics 九變篇
故用兵之法無恃其不來恃吾有以待也無恃其不攻恃吾有所不可攻也
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him;
not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 有能以待之也, but the conciser form is more likely to be right.
The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan insert 吾也 after the first 攻, and omit 有所.
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 法fǎlaw, rule, statute; method, way; French
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 恃shìto trust, to rely on; to presume
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 來láito arrive, to come, to return; in the fu
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 待dàito entertain, to receive, to treat; to d
- 也yěalso, too
- 攻gōngto accuse; to assault; to criticize
- 所suǒplace, location; "that which", a particl
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Art of War 6.7
- Art of War 3.8
- Art of War 7.33
- Art of War 8.3
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.