Book

The Art of War

Name: The Art of War
Author: Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu

PublisherPluriel

Published2025-10-14

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R e v i e w sf r o mO t h e r s

Donald TrumpCeleb

3/1/2026

In his 2007 book Trump 101, Trump recommended Sun Tzu as one of the best books on leadership. In his 2010 Think Like a Champion he wrote: "I recommend Sun Tzu's The Art of War as a book of value for business strategy. It may sound strange to recommend for business school, but trust me — it is valuable and worth your time." The title The Art of the Deal appears to be a conscious nod to The Art of War, and Trump has cited Sun Tzu multiple times on Twitter. Sun Tzu's principle "all warfare is based on deception" aligns with what Trump calls "truthful hyperbole."

Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-mixed-martial-philosophy-of-donald-j-trump/

Sun BinCeleb

3/1/2026

When Sun Bin studied military strategy under Guiguzi, he was secretly taught the thirteen chapters of The Art of War composed by his ancestor Sun Wu. According to Sima Qian's Shiji, Guiguzi passed this text to Sun Bin alone, fearing the jealousy of their fellow student Pang Juan. Sun Bin mastered its teachings and later applied its principles in famous strategies such as "encircle Wei to rescue Zhao" and "reducing cookfires." While inheriting the core principle of "know the enemy and know yourself," he developed his own innovations and authored the Sun Bin Bingfa.

Source: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%86%90%EB%B9%88

Mao ZedongCeleb

3/1/2026

Mao Zedong frequently read The Art of War among the ancient Chinese military texts. His military theory was a unique synthesis of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz's On War. He studied The Art of War intensively during his time in Yan'an in 1938 in particular, and quoted Sun Tzu three times in "Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War." He applied Sun Tzu's spirit of "know the enemy and know yourself, and you will win every battle" to guerrilla tactics.

Source: https://clausewitzstudies.org/bibl/Zhang-MaoZedongsReferencesToClausewitz.htm

Sun QuanCeleb

3/1/2026

Sun Quan read military texts voraciously from youth, and valued The Art of War above all. When encouraging Lü Meng to pursue learning, he personally mentioned that "even after becoming a ruler, I read carefully through the Three Histories and military texts." He built the foundation of his strategic thinking from this book.

Source: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%86%90%EA%B6%8C

Tokugawa IeyasuCeleb

3/1/2026

In the eleventh year of the Keichō era (1606), Ieyasu ordered Kanshitsu Genkitsu to publish the first printed edition of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Before this, only handwritten copies had existed, and this publication became the catalyst for the popularization of military strategy texts in Japan. A representative example of its application is the Winter Siege of Osaka (1614). When the second shogun Hidetada called for an all-out assault, Ieyasu restrained him, urging him not to underestimate the enemy and to think of a way to win without fighting. This was a direct citation of the passage from the chapter on Attack by Stratagem: "To win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; the highest excellence is to subdue the enemy without fighting." In practice, through peace negotiations, Ieyasu had the moats of Osaka Castle filled in, then secured a complete victory in the Summer Siege the following year. It is an example of applying the classic teaching in actual combat — that true victory in war means achieving one's objectives while minimizing one's own losses.

Source: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/孫子_(書物)

Marc BenioffCeleb

3/1/2026

Benioff said this classic military strategy text had been enormously helpful to him. He praised it for "advocating always maintaining composure," and noted that he applied its teachings on remaining cool-headed to business strategy and competitive situations.

Source: https://mostrecommendedbooks.com/people/marc-benioff-recommended-books

Lü MengCeleb

3/1/2026

Lü Meng entered the world of learning at the urging of Sun Quan. Sun Quan specifically told him to read The Art of War and the Six Strategies first, and Lü Meng subsequently transformed into a general well-versed in military strategy. Lu Su's exclamation "You are no longer the old Lü Meng from Wu!" attests to this.

Source: https://kongming.net/novel/sgz/lumeng.php

Zhuge LiangCeleb

3/1/2026

Passages from The Art of War are quoted several times in Zhuge Liang's collected writings and memorials. He applied in battle the core concept from the chapter on Void and Substance: "In battle there is no constant momentum; in water there is no constant shape." The structure of his own military treatise also shows traces of Sun Tzu's system. Later scholars noted that Zhuge Liang's military thought resembled Sun Tzu's principle of "winning without fighting" — though Zhuge took a more pragmatic approach, emphasizing methodical offense and logistics over Sun Tzu's emphasis on maneuver warfare.

Source: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%86%90%EC%9E%90%EB%B3%91%EB%B2%95

Han XinCeleb

3/1/2026

Han Xin was a general who had deeply internalized the principles of The Art of War. According to Records of the Grand Historian, after deploying troops with their backs to a river at the Battle of Jingxing, Han Xin responded to his subordinates' doubts by quoting Sun Tzu: "Place the army in a position of death and it will fight for its life." Later historians praised both men together, writing "none surpassed Sun Tzu in discussing military strategy, and none surpassed Han Xin in commanding armies." Han Xin's tactics were a direct embodiment of Sun Tzu's principles on the real battlefield.

Source: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%95%9C%EC%8B%A0_(%ED%9A%8C%EC%9D%8C%ED%9B%84)

Yi Sun-sinCeleb

3/1/2026

Yi Sun-sin passed the Joseon military service examination in 1576. The Art of War was a required core subject in the written portion of the military examination's Seven Military Classics, and its principles are deeply embedded in Yi's tactical operations. His use of the crane-wing formation, his selection of battlegrounds exploiting terrain and tidal currents, and his surprise attacks striking at the enemy's weak points all faithfully embody Sun Tzu's principles of "know yourself and your enemy" and the interplay of orthodox and unorthodox tactics.

Source: https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%B4%EC%88%9C%EC%8B%A0