Art of War 8.8
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Variation Of Tactics 九變篇
雜於利而務可信也
If our expectation of advantage be tempered in this way, we may succeed in accomplishing the essential part of our schemes.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
信, according to Tu Mu, is equivalent to 申, and 務可信也 is paraphrased by Chang Yü as 可以伸己之事. Tu Mu goes on to say: “If we wish to wrest an advantage from the enemy, we must not fix our minds on that alone, but allow for the possibility of the enemy also doing some harm to us, and let this enter as a factor into our calculations.”
Character glossary
- 雜zámix, blend; various, miscellaneous
- 於yúat, in, on; to, from; alas!
- 利lìgains, advantage, profit, merit
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 務wùaffairs, business; should; must
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 信xìnto trust, to believe; letter, sign
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- The Great Learning Passage 16
- Art of War 8.7
- Art of War 8.9
- Analects 14.15
- Mencius 7B.37
- Zhuangzi Transcendental Bliss
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.