Quotes

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

A good army first makes itself invincible, and then waits for the moment when the enemy can be defeated.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

If I am upright, people will act without being ordered. If I am not upright, they will not obey even when I give orders.

At first, my way with men was to hear their words and give them credit for their conduct. Now my way is to hear their words and look at their conduct.

The ancients did not readily give utterance to their words, for they were ashamed lest their actions should not come up to them.

When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, and their bad qualities I will correct in myself.

The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness; the mind of the mean man is conversant with gain.

To have faults and not to reform them, this indeed should be pronounced having faults.

What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the mean man seeks is in others.

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Throw away the thought of how you shall seem to others, and be content if you live the rest of your life as your nature wills.