Book
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
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R e v i e w sf r o mO t h e r s
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Deng AiCeleb
3d ago
등애는 음평 기습을 진언하며 손자병법의 '대비 없는 곳을 치고 뜻하지 않은 데로 나간다(攻其無備, 出其不意)'를 인용했다. 정사 등애전이 옮긴 본인 상소(上書)의 한 줄이다. 그는 그 잠언 그대로 700리 무인지경을 가로질러 성도를 무너뜨렸다.
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Zhou YuCeleb
3d ago
주유가 손자를 직접 학습했다는 사료는 없다. 다만 적벽에서 그가 입안한 작전은 손자병법 화공·용간 원칙과 정확히 맞물린다. 황개의 거짓 항복과 화선 돌격은 화공과 사간(死間)의 결합이다.
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Chiang Kai-shekCeleb
5d ago
Chiang Kai-shek kept the Sun Tzu's Art of War at his side throughout the long stretches of marches and campaigns. According to the reading record compiled by the Academia Historica in Taiwan and the Hoover Institution, he read the Art of War repeatedly and judged that 'among the military philosophies of ancient China, the Art of War is the most subtle and refined.' From his student days at the Shimbu Gakko in Japan, he had been comparing Western military science with Sun Tzu's thought and forging a strategy of his own.
When he first trained officers as commandant of the Whampoa Academy, Chiang opened his lectures with Sun Tzu's teaching that one who knows the enemy and knows oneself will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. During the Northern Expedition that began in 1926, he broke through the warlord positions one after another from a base in Guangzhou up to Beijing, applying Sun Tzu's play of orthodox and unorthodox forces, of emptiness and substance, by combining justified offensives with surprise attacks. During the eight-year war of resistance against Japan he chose a protracted strategy that traded space for time in the face of the enemy's overwhelming firepower, an adaptation to his own circumstances of Sun Tzu's indirect approach, the long detour that wears the enemy down. The same daily habit of opening a book and rereading a single passage applied to the Art of War as well.
When he first trained officers as commandant of the Whampoa Academy, Chiang opened his lectures with Sun Tzu's teaching that one who knows the enemy and knows oneself will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. During the Northern Expedition that began in 1926, he broke through the warlord positions one after another from a base in Guangzhou up to Beijing, applying Sun Tzu's play of orthodox and unorthodox forces, of emptiness and substance, by combining justified offensives with surprise attacks. During the eight-year war of resistance against Japan he chose a protracted strategy that traded space for time in the face of the enemy's overwhelming firepower, an adaptation to his own circumstances of Sun Tzu's indirect approach, the long detour that wears the enemy down. The same daily habit of opening a book and rereading a single passage applied to the Art of War as well.
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Xin QijiCeleb
5d ago
Before he was a lyricist Xin Qiji was a man of military practice. The episode of leading fifty riders into a Jin camp of fifty thousand to seize the traitor Zhang Anguo, and his founding during his tenure as Pacification Commissioner of Hunan of the Flying Tiger Army, the elite Southern Song field force, are the field application of Sun Tzu's 'way of deception' and 'ordering the troops.' At the head of the 'Ten Discourses on the Aromatic Celery,' he laid out a Sun Tzu-style 'know the enemy and know yourself' analysis, asking the disposition of the foe and the guard of his own side; in the 'Nine Proposals' he applied the long-war thought of Sun Tzu, 'subduing without battle' and 'raising the enemy like cattle to be slaughtered,' to the Song-Jin standoff. First among the Seven Military Classics of the Song, Sun Tzu's Art of War was the core literacy of the scholar-officer, and within Xin's lyrics it sounds endlessly through the imagery of sword, lamp, and war drum.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.