6. Weakness and Strength
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
孙子曰:凡先处战地而待敌者佚,后处战地而趋战者劳。故善战者,致人而不致于人。
English translation
The one who first occupies the battlefield and waits for the enemy remains at ease; the one who arrives later and rushes to join the fight is fatigued. Hence a skilled commander draws the opponent into a chosen situation, rather than becoming one who is forced to run wherever the enemy leads.
This is an early statement on operational economy: initiative is often logistical control, not dramatic aggression.
Original Chinese text
能使敌自至者,利之也;能使敌不得至者,害之也。故敌佚能劳之,饱能饥之,安能动之。出其所不趋,趋其所不意。
English translation
If you can induce the enemy to come to you, it benefits you; if you can prevent the enemy from reaching where he wants, it harms him. Make the rested foe work, the well-fed grow hungry, the settled force start moving. Lure him off the path he prefers and push him toward what he does not expect.
Sunzi links supply, fatigue, and movement control as coordinated levers. Shaping what the opponent can choose transforms strength without direct confrontation.
Original Chinese text
行千里而不劳者,行于无人之地也。攻而必取者,攻其所不守也;守而必固者,守其所不攻也。故善攻者,敌不知其所守;善守者,敌不知其所攻。微乎微乎!至于无形;神乎神乎!至于无声,故能为敌之司命。
English translation
One may march a thousand li without obvious exhaustion if the march uses routes where no one is watching. If I must attack and expect success, strike where the enemy has not guarded; if I must hold and need firmness, hold where the enemy is least likely to assail. Thus the attacker leaves the enemy unsure of your defenses, and the defender leaves the enemy unsure of your blows. Let things become extremely subtle, even formless; become even more subtle, almost without sound, and you can govern the opponent’s critical timing.
This is a compact doctrine of unpredictability: route control and timing control turn visibility into vulnerability for the opponent.
Original Chinese text
进而不可御者,冲其虚也;退而不可追者,速而不可及也。故我欲战,敌虽高垒深沟,不得不与我战者,攻其所必救也;我不欲战,虽画地而守之,敌不得与我战者,乖其所之也。
English translation
If the opponent cannot block your advance, you attack the gap in his strength; if he cannot catch your retreat, your pace is such that he cannot reach you. Therefore when we choose to fight, even a force behind high walls and deep ditches is drawn out to defend what must be protected. When we do not choose to fight, even a plainly marked defense can deny contact, because the opponent’s direction is disturbed.
Advance and withdrawal are dual tools. By choosing where the enemy must commit and where contact is denied, you control whether a battle occurs at all.
Original Chinese text
故形人而我无形,则我专而敌分。我专为一,敌分为十,是以十攻其一也,则我众而敌寡。能以众击寡者,则吾之所与战者,约矣。吾所与战之地不可知,不可知,则敌所备者多,敌所备者多,则吾之所与战者寡矣。故备前则后寡,备后则前寡,备左则右寡,备右则左寡,无所不备,则无所不寡。寡者,备人者也;众者,使人备己者也。
English translation
If I present a visible form to the enemy while I keep myself without a fixed form, I stay unified and the enemy is forced to spread out. I become one focused point, while they defend in ten directions for one objective; thus what looks like many on my side meets few on theirs. If I can win by using apparent concentration against their dispersion, the actual contact with the enemy is already narrowed. When they do not know where we will fight, they must prepare in many places; the more places they prepare, the fewer places where we can truly meet. Guard the front and the rear thins; guard the rear and the front thins; guard the left and the right thins; guard the right and the left thins. If everything is guarded, nothing is effectively guarded. ‘Few’ refers to forces used up in guarding what they think is needed; ‘many’ refers to those who can make the enemy spend themselves in guarding for you.
This is an economy-of-force principle. Confuse enemy assessment, force dispersion, and the defender gains local superiority at moments of real contact.
Original Chinese text
故知战之地,知战之日,则可千里而会战;不知战之地,不知战之日,则左不能救右,右不能救左,前不能救后,后不能救前,而况远者数十里,近者数里乎!以吾度之,越人之兵虽多,亦奚益于胜败哉!故曰:胜可也。敌虽众,可使无斗。
English translation
If the ground and day of battle are known, armies can converge for battle even after a thousand li. If both are unknown, the left cannot support the right, the right cannot support the left, the front cannot aid the rear, and the rear cannot aid the front; distance then makes this worse. Therefore even a large enemy force, however numerous, may add little to victory and defeat. So success can still be secured: a many-strong enemy can be kept from finding real combat.
This frames command as coordination architecture: knowing when and where is the precondition for effective mutual support and force concentration.
Original Chinese text
故策之而知得失之计,作之而知动静之理,形之而知死生之地,角之而知有余不足之处。故形兵之极,至于无形。无形,则深间不能窥,智者不能谋。因形而措胜于众,众不能知。人皆知我所以胜之形,而莫知吾所以制胜之形。故其战胜不复,而应形于无穷。
English translation
Through planning you understand gain and loss; through execution you grasp motion and stillness; through shaping you see the zones of life and death; through balancing forces you know where you have surplus or shortage. The fullest shaping of troops reaches the level of no form. In formlessness, deep spies cannot penetrate, and even a clever strategist cannot form an effective plan. By placing victory in this hidden form, the masses cannot grasp it; they may see that we win but not how we control the way we win. Therefore victory does not come in a simple repeatable pattern.
This is a warning against tactical imitation. The durable edge lies in adaptable structure, not in a fixed visible pattern.
Original Chinese text
夫兵形象水,水之行,避高而趋下;兵之胜,避实而击虚。水因地而制行,兵因敌而制胜。故兵无成势,无恒形,能因敌变化而取胜者,谓之神。故五行无常胜,四时无常位,日有短长,月有死生。
English translation
Troop formation is like water. Water, by nature, avoids height and flows downward. Victory in war is to avoid the solid and strike the empty. Water changes its course by terrain; troops win by changing by the enemy. Troops have no single fixed momentum and no permanent form. One who can seize victory by adapting to enemy changes is called divine. The five elements have no permanent winner, the seasons no fixed station; days shorten and lengthen, the moon waxes and wanes.
This passage is a core principle of adaptive strategy: durability is not rigidity but responsiveness.