The Art of War

A treatise on military strategy in thirteen short chapters, traditionally attributed to Sun Wu, a general said to have served the state of Wu around 500 BCE; most scholars think the text took shape somewhat later, in the Warring States period. It begins by calling war a matter of life and death for the state, to be entered only after careful calculation. Its central ideas are that the best victory is won without fighting, by defeating the enemy's plans and alliances; that all warfare is based on deception; that knowing the enemy and knowing oneself is the condition of safety in battle; and that a commander should exploit strategic advantage (shi), the potential energy of a situation, like round boulders rolled down a mountain, rather than relying on brute force. A bamboo text found at Yinqueshan in 1972 confirmed the antiquity of the core work.

It is the classic case for war as a costly last resort governed by intelligence rather than courage, and its idea of strategic advantage contains a philosophy of action that reaches well beyond the battlefield.