Art of War 9.31
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Army On The March 行軍篇
見利而不進者勞也
If the enemy sees an advantage to be gained
and makes no effort to secure it, the soldiers are exhausted.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
Not necessarily “booty,” as Capt. Calthrop translates it. The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 向人見利, etc.
Character glossary
- 見jiànto see, to observe, to meet, to appear
- 利lìgains, advantage, profit, merit
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 進jìnto advance, to make progress; to come in
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 勞láoto labor, to toil; to do manual work
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 5A.4
- Art of War 6.1
- Zhuangzi Lieh Tzŭ
- Analects 6.13
- Zhuangzi The Circling Sky
- Zhuangzi Mountain Trees
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.