Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that certain knowledge cannot be acquired through traditional means such as spirits, experience, or calculations.
Sun Tzu emphasizes the limitations of human understanding when it comes to foreknowledge. He suggests that there are aspects of knowledge that exist beyond our capacities to discern through conventional methods like spiritual inquiry, empirical observation, or logical deduction, indicating the complexity of wisdom and foresight.
Themes
KnowledgeWisdomForeknowledgeLimitationsUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of knowledge and wisdom, to highlight the limitations of human understanding.
More from Sun Tzu
All quotes βGreat 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
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
Thomas A KempisRead
I don't feel any vulgar gratitude to you[for helping me]. I almost feel as if You ought to be grateful to ME, for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. . . I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you, by giving you an opportunity of assisting me.
Charles DickensRead
I wanted to be of service to the Peace League, and how could I better do so than by trying to write a book which should propagate its ideas? And I could do it most effectively, I thought, in the form of a story.
Bertha Von SuttnerRead
...the core values that underpin sustainable development - interdependence, empathy, equity, personal responsibility and intergenerational justice - are the only foundation upon which any viable vision of a better world can possibly be constructed
Jonathon PorrittRead
Everyone is born into a certain era. I wouldn't want to see anyone faced with the circumstances that prevailed at the time, when there were few or no alternatives.
Gunter GrassRead
Folly loves the martyrdom of fame.
Lord ByronRead