QuoteProject
First learn to become invincible, then wait for your enemy's moment of vulnerability.
Sun Tzu
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

One must first build strength and resilience before seizing opportunities against adversaries.

This quote from Sun Tzu emphasizes the importance of preparation and self-improvement as foundational steps before engaging in conflict. It suggests that having a solid defense and strategy will position you to effectively identify and take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses when they arise.

Themes

StrategyStrengthVulnerabilityEnemyResilience

In practice

Example use cases

During a leadership workshop to discuss strategic planning and competitive advantage.

More from Sun Tzu

Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Great results, can be achieved with small forces.
Sun TzuRead
To capture an enemies army is better than to destroy it.
Sun TzuRead
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
Sun TzuRead
You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Sun TzuRead
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Sun TzuRead

Similar quotes

Overcome your guilt. Care, but not too much. Take responsibility, but don't blame yourself. Protect, save, help- but know when to give up. They're precarious ledges to walk. How do I do it?
Brandon SandersonRead
I will waste not even a precious second today in anger or hate or jealousy or selfishness. I know that the seeds I sow I will harvest, because every action, good or bad, is always followed by an equal reaction. I will plant only good seeds this day.
Og MandinoRead
You are free when you gain back yourself,” Madame Wu said. β€œYou can be as free within these walls as you could be in the whole world. And how could you be free if, however far you wander, you still carry inside yourself the constant thought of him? See where you belong in the stream of life. Let it flow through you, cool and strong. Do not dam it with your two hands, lest he break the dam and so escape you. Let him go free, and you will be free.
Pearl S. BuckRead
A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias._x000D_ The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side.
ConfuciusRead
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. This prayer was first printed in a monthly bulletin of the Federal Council of Churches and has become enormously popular. It has been circulated in millions of copies.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
I longed for literary celebrity even as I saw with my own eyes how little happiness it brought.
Edmund WhiteRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.