Quotation
Last reviewed:
“All warfare is based on deception.”
Sunzi (Sun Tzu) · Military strategy · Ancient · traditional Warring States text; Giles's English 1910
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a military maxim: war runs on misleading the enemy about your strength, location, and intent. A competing reading lifts it into ordinary life as 'everything is deception', which the chapter does not say; it is advising a general, in a list of ways to seem weak when strong and near when far. It stands in chapter 1 of the received text, among the preliminary calculations. Giles's English is the version most readers meet.
Did Sunzi (Sun Tzu) really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A genuine line from the text, given in English translation. Wording differs between translators.
Where it comes from
The Art of War, chapter 1
Approximate date: traditional Warring States text; Giles's English 1910.
How to use it
A negotiation about a house price, or a legal dispute, sometimes involves what you show and what you hold back. Calling that 'war' imports this sentence whether or not you should. The maxim is about defeating an enemy, not about how to treat a colleague or a partner, and if you are not in a war, the premise has not been earned, and deception that would be craft in a campaign can be a lie in a kitchen.
A mindset reading
The habit is to keep the domain attached to the maxim. Ask whether you are actually in a conflict of the kind the book is about, and whether winning it by deceit is something you are willing to defend. A strategy quote does not become a moral rule by being old.
Understand the philosophy
The chapter answers how a commander should shape the enemy's picture of the situation. Deception, gui, is presented as basic to warfare, and the following lines give the tactics of false appearances. The key limit is the subject: war, not speech in general. The Art of War is a traditional military classic whose single authorship is doubtful, and its migration into business talk is a later use, and often a looser one.
- power
- knowledge
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a military maxim: war runs on misleading the enemy about your strength, location, and intent. A competing reading lifts it into ordinary life as 'everything is deception', which the chapter does not say; it is advising a general, in a list of ways to seem weak when strong and near when far. It stands in chapter 1 of the received text, among the preliminary calculations. Giles's English is the version most readers meet.
Did Sunzi (Sun Tzu) really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A genuine line from the text, given in English translation. Wording differs between translators.
Which work is it in?
The Art of War, chapter 1 Approximate date: traditional Warring States text; Giles's English 1910.