「夫聖人隨時以行，是謂守時。天時不作，弗為人客；人事不起，弗為之始。」 — "The sage moves with the time; this is called keeping to the time. When Heaven's time has not arisen, do not be the guest [the attacker]; when human affairs have not arisen, do not be the one who begins." / 「人事至矣，天應未也，王姑待之。」 — "Human affairs have arrived; Heaven's response has not. For now, wait." / 「天應至矣，人事未盡也，王姑待之。」… 「夫人事必將與天地相參，然後乃可以成功。」 — "Heaven's response has arrived; human affairs are not yet at their end. For now, wait." … "Human affairs must be joined with Heaven and Earth as a three; only then can success be achieved." (韋昭: 攻者為客; 先動為始; 人事 = 怨叛、逆亂之萌; 參，三也.)

「夫國家之事，有持盈，有定傾，有節事。」/「持盈者與天，定傾者與人，節事者與地。」/ 「天道盈而不溢，盛而不驕，勞而不矜其功。」 — "In the affairs of a state there is keeping the full, steadying the tilting, and regulating affairs." / "Keeping the full goes with Heaven; steadying the tilting goes with people; regulating affairs goes with Earth." / "Heaven's way is full but does not overflow, flourishes but is not arrogant, labours but does not boast of its work." (韋昭: 持，守也; 盈，滿也; 傾，危也; 節，制也; 與天，法天也.)

「時不至，不可彊生；事不究，不可彊成。自若以處，以度天下，待其來者而正之，因時之所宜而定之。 同男女之功，除民之害，以避天殃。田野開闢，府倉實，民眾殷。無曠其眾，以為亂梯。時將有反，事將有閒， 必有以知天地之恆制，乃可以有天下之成利。事無閒，時無反，則撫民保教以須之。」 — "When the time has not come, growth cannot be forced; when the matter has not run its course, completion cannot be forced. Stay as you are and take the measure of the world; wait for what comes and set it right; settle it by what the time makes fitting. Join the work of men and women, remove the people's harms, and so avoid Heaven's punishment. Fields opened, storehouses full, people numerous. Do not leave the people idle — that becomes a ladder to disorder. When the time is about to turn and affairs are about to show an opening, one must have the means to know the constant measures of Heaven and Earth; then one can have the world's full benefit. If affairs show no opening and the time does not turn, care for the people, protect and teach them, and wait." (韋昭: 自如，無妄動也; 待其來 = 不先唱; 究，窮也.)

「微君王之言，臣故將謁之。臣聞從時者，猶救火、追亡人也，蹶而趨之，唯恐弗及。」 — "Had you not said it, I was about to ask for it. I have heard: one who follows the time is like one fighting a fire or chasing a runaway — run and hurry, fearing only not to get there." / 「得時無怠，時不再來，天予不取，反為之災。」 — "Having got the time, do not slacken; the time does not come again; what Heaven gives and you do not take turns into disaster." / 「得時不成，天有還形。天節不遠，五年復反，小凶則近，大凶則遠。」 — "If you get the time and do not complete it, Heaven has a way of turning it back. Heaven's period is not far: in five years it comes round — near for a small misfortune, far for a great one." (韋昭: 小凶 = 危敗, 大凶 = 死滅; near = five years, far = ten or twenty.) / 史記: 「天與弗取，反受其咎。」 — "If Heaven gives and you do not take, you receive the blame in return."

「夫謀之廊廟，失之中原，其可乎？王姑勿許也。…贏縮轉化，後將悔之。天節固然，唯謀不遷。」 — "To plan it in the temple hall and lose it on the central plain — can that be right? For now, do not accept. … Advance and retreat change into each other; later you would regret it. Heaven's rhythm is like that; only the plan does not move." (韋昭: 贏縮，進退也; 固然，有轉化也; 謀必素定，不可遷易.) / 「夫十年謀之，一朝而棄之，其可乎？王姑勿許，其事將易冀已。」 — "Ten years of planning, thrown away in one morning — can that be right? For now, do not accept; the matter will then be easy to hope for." / 史記: 「謀之二十二年，一旦而棄之，可乎？」

「臣聞之，為人臣者，君憂臣勞，君辱臣死。昔者君王辱於會稽，臣所以不死者，為此事也。今事已濟矣， 蠡請從會稽之罰。」…「臣聞命矣。君行制，臣行意。」 — "I have heard: a servant labours when his ruler is anxious, and dies when his ruler is disgraced. When you were disgraced at 會稽, the reason I did not die was this task. Now the task is done; I ask to receive the punishment of 會稽." … [to the threat: share the state, or die with wife and children] "I have heard your command. You act by your law; I act by my intent." (韋昭: 制，法也; 意，志也. 史記41:56 reads 君行令.) / 「蜚鳥盡，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。越王爲人長頸鳥喙，可與共患難，不可與共樂。 子何不去？」 — "When the flying birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hare is dead, the hunting dog is cooked. The King of Yue has a long neck and a bird's beak; one can share hardship with him, not joy. Why don't you leave?" / 「居家則致千金，居官則至卿相，此布衣之極也。久受尊名，不祥。」 — "At home I have reached a thousand in gold; in office, chief minister — the limit for a man in plain cloth. To hold an honoured name long is unlucky."

「未可也。蠡聞之，上帝不考，時反是守，彊索者不祥。得時不成，反受其殃。失德滅名，流走死亡。有奪，有予， 有不予，王無蚤圖。夫吳，君王之吳也，王若蚤圖之，其事又將未可知也。」 — "Not yet. I have heard: when the Lord on High has not completed it, keep watch for the time to turn; one who seeks by force is unlucky. Get the time and not complete it, and you receive its calamity; lose virtue and your name is destroyed, you flee and die. There is taking back, there is giving, there is not giving. Do not plan early. Wu is Your Majesty's Wu; if you plan for it early, the matter will again be unknowable." (韋昭: 考，成也; 天時反，乃可以動; 索，求也.)

「今其禍新民恐，其君臣上下，皆知其資財之不足以支長久也，彼將同其力，致其死，猶尚殆。王其且馳騁弋獵， 無至禽荒；宮中之樂，無至酒荒；肆與大夫觴飲，無忘國常。彼其上將薄其德，民將盡其力，又使之望而不得食， 乃可以致天地之殛。王姑待之。」 — "Now their disaster is new and the people are afraid; ruler and ministers, high and low, all know their wealth will not hold out long. They will unite their strength and give their lives — it is still dangerous. Your Majesty, go riding and hunting for now, but not to the point of being lost in the hunt; palace pleasures, but not to drunken ruin; drink freely with the officers, but do not forget the state's standing rules. Their ruler will thin his virtue, their people will exhaust their strength, and they will look for food and not get it; then the punishment of Heaven and Earth can be brought about. For now, wait." (Why hunt: 韋昭 「示不以吳為念」 — to show Yue is not thinking of Wu. That purpose is the commentator's, not Fan Li's words.)

「逆節萌生。天地未形，而先為之征，其事是以不成，雜受其刑。王姑待之。」 — "Rebellion against order is sprouting. Heaven and Earth have not yet taken visible form, and to campaign ahead of it — that is why the affair does not succeed, and all together suffer the harm. For now, wait." (韋昭: 萌，兆也; 形，見也，天地之占未見; 征，征伐也; 雜，猶俱也; 刑，害也.)

「臣聞古之善用兵者，贏縮以為常，四時以為紀，無過天極，究數而止。天道皇皇，日月以為常，明者以為法， 微者則是行。陽至而陰，陰至而陽；日困而還，月盈而匡。古之善用兵者，因天地之常，與之俱行。」 — "I have heard that those of old who used troops well took advance and retreat as their constant and the four seasons as their rule; they did not pass Heaven's limit, and stopped when the count was exhausted. Heaven's way is bright, with sun and moon as its constant; the bright is taken as the model, the waning is acted on accordingly. When yang reaches its height it turns to yin; when yin reaches its height, to yang. The sun, exhausted, returns; the moon, full, wanes. Those of old who used troops well went by the constants of Heaven and Earth and moved with them." (韋昭 on 究數而止: 「無過天道之所至，窮其數而止也」; on 明/微: advance when sun and moon are full, withdraw when they wane.)

「四封之外，敵國之制，立斷之事，因陰陽之恆，順天地之常，柔而不屈，彊而不剛，德虐之行，因以為常； 死生因天地之刑，天因人，聖人因天；人自生之，天地形之，聖人因而成之。是故戰勝而不報，取地而不反，兵勝於外，福生於內， 用力甚少而名聲章明，種亦不如蠡也。」 — "Outside the four borders — dealing with enemy states, matters decided on the spot: go by the constant of yin and yang, follow the norm of Heaven and Earth; be soft but not bent, strong but not hard; let favour and severity follow these as the rule; let death and life follow the law of Heaven and Earth. Heaven goes by people; the sage goes by Heaven. People bring it about themselves, Heaven and Earth give it form, the sage goes by that and completes it. So battles are won and not repaid, land is taken and not given back, arms win outside and good fortune grows inside, very little force is used and the name shines — in this 種 is not as good as I." (韋昭: 德 = 懷柔及爵賞, 虐 = 斬伐及黜奪; 戰勝而不報 = 敵家不能報也.)

「剛彊以禦，陽節不盡，不死其野。彼來從我，固守勿與。若將與之，必因天地之災， 又觀其民之饑飽勞逸以參之。盡其陽節、盈吾陰節而奪之。宜為人客，剛彊而力疾；陽節不盡，輕而不可取。宜為人主，安徐而重固； 陰節不盡，柔而不可迫。」…「今其來也，剛彊而力疾，王姑待之。」 — "If they resist with hardness and strength, their yang phase is not exhausted; they will not die in the field. If they come at us, hold firm and do not engage. If we are to engage them, it must be by a disaster of Heaven and Earth, and we also look at their people's hunger or fullness, toil or ease to cross-check. Exhaust their yang phase, fill our yin phase, and take it. A side fit to be the guest [attacker] is hard, strong and swift; while its yang phase is not exhausted, though it seems careless it cannot be taken. A side fit to be the host is calm, slow, heavy and firm; while its yin phase is not exhausted, though soft it cannot be pressed." … "Now they come hard, strong and swift. For now, wait." (The subject of 宜為人客 / 宜為人主 is read as 韋昭 reads it.)

「夫勇者，逆德也；兵者，凶器也；爭者，事之末也。陰謀逆德，好用凶器，始於人者，人之所卒也； 淫佚之事，上帝之禁也，先行此者，不利。」 — "Courage goes against virtue; weapons are ill-omened instruments; contention is the last of affairs. Secret scheming goes against virtue; fondness for ill-omened instruments — who starts on others is ended by them; dissipation is what the Lord on High forbids. Whoever does these first does not profit." (韋昭: 勇則攻奪; 陰謀，兵謀也; 始以伐人，人終害之.) / 史記: 「臣聞兵者凶器也，戰者逆德也，爭者事之末也。陰謀逆德，好用凶器，試身於所末，上帝禁之，行者不利。」

「四封之內，百姓之事，蠡不如種也。四封之外，敵國之制，立斷之事，種亦不如蠡也。」 — "Inside the four borders, the people's affairs: I am not as good as 種. Outside the four borders, dealing with enemy states, matters decided on the spot: 種 is not as good as I." / 史記: 「兵甲之事，種不如蠡；塡撫國家，親附百姓，蠡不如種。」 — "In arms and armour, 種 is not as good as I; in settling the state and winning the people, I am not as good as 種."

「卑辭尊禮，玩好女樂，尊之以名。如此不已，又身與之市。」 — "Humble words and honoured ritual; treasures and women musicians; honour him with a name. If that does not end it, then bargain with your own person." (韋昭: 「市，利也，謂委管籥屬國家，以身隨之」 — hand over the keys, put the state under them, and follow in person.) / 史記: 「卑辭厚禮以遺之，不許，而身與之市。」

「計然之策七，越用其五而得意。既已施於國，吾欲用之家。」 — "Ji Ran's policies were seven; Yue used five of them and got what it wanted. Since they have been applied to the state, I want to use them for the household." (漢書·貨殖傳 reads 「計然之策，十用其五」.)

「彼非不愛其弟，顧有所不能忍者也。是少與我倶，見苦，爲生難，故重棄財。至如少弟者，生而見我富， 乘堅驅良逐狡兔，豈知財所從來，故輕棄之，非所惜吝。前日吾所爲欲遣少子，固爲其能棄財故也。而長者不能，故卒以殺其弟， 事之理也，無足悲者。」 — "It is not that he did not love his brother; there was something he could not bear. He was with me when young, saw hardship, knew how hard a living is, so he finds it hard to let money go. The youngest was born to see me rich, riding sound carriages behind good horses chasing hares — how would he know where wealth comes from? So he lets it go lightly and does not begrudge it. The reason I wanted to send the youngest was precisely that he could let money go. The eldest could not, and so in the end he got his brother killed. That is the logic of things; nothing to grieve over."

「審備則可以戰乎？」王曰：「巧。」 — "If the preparations are examined, can we then fight?" The king: "Skilful." (韋昭: 備，守禦之備; 巧，審密不可攻入也 — defensive preparations, so close-knit they cannot be broken into.)

「兵者，國之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察也。故經之以五事，校之以七計，而索其情：一曰道，二曰天，三曰地，四曰將，五曰法。」…「道者，令民與上同意，可與之死，可與之生，而不畏危也。」…「故校之以七計而索其情，曰：主孰有道？將孰有能？天地孰得？法令孰行？兵眾孰強？士卒孰練？賞罰孰明？吾以此知勝負矣。」…「夫未戰而廟算勝者，得算多也；未戰而廟算不勝者，得算少也。多算勝，少算不勝，而況於無算乎？」 — "War is a great matter of state, the ground of life and death, the way to survival or ruin; it must be examined. So lay it out by five matters, compare it by seven reckonings, and search out the true situation: the Way, heaven, ground, the general, law… The Way is what makes the people one in intent with their superior, so that they will die with him or live with him and not fear danger… Compare by the seven reckonings: Which ruler has the Way? Which general has ability? Who has heaven and ground? Whose laws and orders are carried out? Whose troops are stronger? Whose officers and men are better trained? Whose rewards and punishments are clearer? By this I know victory and defeat… One who wins the temple reckoning before battle has gained more 算; one who does not has gained fewer. More wins, fewer does not, how much less none at all?" 「兵法：一曰度，二曰量，三曰數，四曰稱，五曰勝。地生度，度生量，量生數，數生稱，稱生勝。故勝兵若以鎰稱銖，敗兵若以銖稱鎰。」 — "In the method of war: first measurement, second quantity, third number, fourth weighing, fifth victory. Ground gives rise to measurement, measurement to quantity, quantity to number, number to weighing, weighing to victory. So a winning army is like a yi weighed against a zhu, a losing army like a zhu against a yi."

「昔之善戰者，先為不可勝，以待敵之可勝。不可勝在己，可勝在敵。故善戰者，能為不可勝，不能使敵之必可勝。故曰：勝可知，而不可為。」…「古之所謂善戰者，勝於易勝者也。」…「故善戰者，立於不敗之地，而不失敵之敗也。是故勝兵先勝而後求戰，敗兵先戰而後求勝。」 — "The skilled fighters of old first made themselves unbeatable and waited for the enemy to become beatable. Being unbeatable lies with oneself; being beatable lies with the enemy. So the skilled fighter can make himself unbeatable but cannot make the enemy certain to be beatable. Hence: victory can be known but cannot be made… Those the ancients called skilled fighters won where winning was easy… The skilled fighter stands where he cannot be defeated and does not miss the enemy's defeat. So the winning army wins first and then seeks battle; the losing army fights first and then seeks victory." 「故用兵之法，無恃其不來，恃吾有以待之；無恃其不攻，恃吾有所不可攻也。」 — "Do not rely on their not coming; rely on having the means to meet them. Do not rely on their not attacking; rely on having what cannot be attacked."

「凡用兵之法，全國為上，破國次之；全軍為上，破軍次之；全旅為上，破旅次之；全卒為上，破卒次之；全伍為上，破伍次之。是故百戰百勝，非善之善者也；不戰而屈人之兵，善之善者也。故上兵伐謀，其次伐交，其次伐兵，其下攻城。攻城之法，為不得已。修櫓轒轀，具器械，三月而後成；距闉，又三月而後已。將不勝其忿，而蟻附之，殺士三分之一，而城不拔者，此攻之災也。故善用兵者，屈人之兵而非戰也，拔人之城而非攻也，毀人之國而非久也，必以全爭於天下，故兵不頓而利可全，此謀攻之法也。」 — "In using troops, a whole state is best, a broken one next; a whole army best, a broken one next; and so for brigade, company and squad. So a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the best of the best; to subdue the other's army without battle is the best of the best. So the highest use of troops strikes plans, the next strikes alliances, the next strikes troops, the lowest attacks walled cities. Attacking cities is the method for when there is no alternative: three months to make shields, assault carts and equipment, three more for the earthen mounds; if the general cannot master his anger and sends the men swarming up like ants, a third of them are killed and the city still stands — this is the calamity of attack. So the skilled user of troops subdues the other's army without battle, takes the other's city without attacking it, destroys the other's state without a long war; he contends for all under heaven by keeping things whole, so his troops are not blunted and the gain can be whole."

「故知勝有五：知可以戰與不可以戰者勝，識衆寡之用者勝，上下同欲者勝，以虞待不虞者勝，將能而君不御者勝。此五者，知勝之道也。故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼不知己，每戰必殆。」 — "There are five ways to know victory: one who knows when he can fight and when he cannot wins; one who knows how to use many and few wins; one whose superiors and subordinates want the same thing wins; one who, prepared, waits for the unprepared wins; one whose general is able and whose ruler does not interfere wins. These five are the way to know victory. Hence: know the other and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you are not in danger; not knowing the other but knowing yourself, one win, one loss; knowing neither, in every battle you are in danger." 「知吾卒之可以擊，而不知敵之不可擊，勝之半也；知敵之可擊，而不知吾卒之不可以擊，勝之半也；知敵之可擊，知吾卒之可以擊，而不知地形之不可以戰，勝之半也。…故曰：知彼知己，勝乃不殆；知天知地，勝乃可全。」 — "Knowing our troops can attack but not that the enemy cannot be attacked is half a victory; knowing the enemy can be attacked but not that our troops cannot attack is half a victory; knowing the enemy can be attacked and our troops can attack, but not that the ground does not permit battle, is half a victory… Hence: know the other and yourself, and victory is not in danger; know heaven and ground, and victory can be whole."

「夫戰勝攻取，而不修其功者凶，命曰『費留』。故曰：明主慮之，良將修之，非利不動，非得不用，非危不戰。主不可以怒而興師，將不可以慍而致戰。合於利而動，不合於利而止。怒可以復喜，慍可以復悅，亡國不可以復存，死者不可以復生。故明主慎之，良將警之，此安國全軍之道也。」 — "To win battles and take objectives without 修 the achievement is ill-omened; it is called 費留. Hence the enlightened ruler considers it and the good general attends to it: do not move without advantage, do not use troops without gain, do not fight unless in danger. A ruler must not raise an army out of anger; a general must not give battle out of resentment. Move when it accords with advantage; stop when it does not. Anger can become joy again, resentment can become pleasure again; a destroyed state cannot exist again, the dead cannot live again. So the enlightened ruler is careful of it and the good general is wary of it: this is the way to keep the state secure and the army whole." On 修 and 費留, the commentators split; see Changes #8. The same gate is in 九地: 「合於利而動，不合於利而止。」 The bamboo 〈見吳王〉 gives the same stance in dialogue. It is in English only here; I did not open a Chinese transcription. Ames translates: "Using the military is to gain the advantage; it is not a matter of being fond of it… it is not a matter of sport."

「是故智者之慮，必雜於利害，雜於利而務可信也，雜於害而患可解也。」 — "So the wise one's deliberation always mixes benefit and harm: mixed with benefit, the undertaking can be carried out (杜牧: 「信，申也」); mixed with harm, trouble can be resolved." 「故不盡知用兵之害者，則不能盡知用兵之利也。」 — "Whoever does not fully know the harm of using troops cannot fully know its benefit."

「兵者，詭道也。故能而示之不能，用而示之不用，近而示之遠，遠而示之近。利而誘之，亂而取之，實而備之，強而避之，怒而撓之，卑而驕之，佚而勞之，親而離之。攻其無備，出其不意。此兵家之勝，不可先傳也。」 — "War is the way of deception. So when able, show inability; when using, show non-use; when near, show far; when far, show near. With advantage, lure them; in disorder, take them; solid, prepare against them; strong, avoid them; angry, stir them; humble, make them arrogant; rested, tire them; close, separate them. Attack where they are unprepared; come out where they do not expect. These are the strategist's victories; they cannot be handed down in advance." 「故兵以詐立，以利動，以分合為變者也。」 — "So war is established by deceit, moved by advantage, and varied by dividing and combining."

「凡用兵之法，馳車千駟，革車千乘，帶甲十萬，千里饋糧，…日費千金，然後十萬之師舉矣。其用戰也，貴勝，久則鈍兵挫銳，攻城則力屈，久暴師則國用不足。…故兵聞拙速，未睹巧之久也。夫兵久而國利者，未之有也。」…「善用兵者，役不再籍，糧不三載；取用於國，因糧於敵，故軍食可足也。」…「故智將務食於敵，食敵一鍾，當吾二十鍾。」…「故兵貴勝，不貴久。」 — "A thousand fast chariots, a thousand armoured carts, a hundred thousand armoured men, grain carried a thousand li… a thousand gold a day, and only then can an army of a hundred thousand be raised. In using it to fight, value victory: long, and it blunts the troops and dulls their edge; attacking cities, strength is spent; the army long in the field, the state's means fall short… So in war one hears of clumsy speed, but has not seen skill that is prolonged. A long war that benefits the state has never been… The skilled user of troops does not levy twice nor haul grain three times; he takes equipment from his own state and provisions from the enemy, so the army's food is enough… So the wise general strives to eat from the enemy: one zhong of the enemy's food equals twenty of mine… So in war value victory, not duration." 「故兵之情主速，乘人之不及，由不虞之道，攻其所不戒也。」 — "The nature of war is to rely on speed: take advantage of the other's not being in time, go by roads they do not anticipate, attack where they are not on guard."

「凡先處戰地而待敵者佚，後處戰地而趨戰者勞。故善戰者，致人而不致於人。能使敵自至者，利之也；能使敵不得至者，害之也。」…「故我欲戰，敵雖高壘深溝，不得不與我戰者，攻其所必救也；我不欲戰，雖畫地而守之，敵不得與我戰者，乖其所之也。」 — "Whoever occupies the field first and awaits the enemy is at ease; whoever occupies it later and hurries to battle is weary. So the skilled fighter brings others and is not brought by others. What makes the enemy come of himself is advantage; what keeps him from coming is harm… When I want battle, though the enemy has high walls and deep moats, he must fight me, because I attack what he must rescue; when I do not want battle, though I only draw a line on the ground and hold it, he cannot fight me, because I divert him from where he is going." 「敢問：敵衆整而將來，待之若何？曰：先奪其所愛，則聽矣。」 — "May I ask: the enemy, many and in order, is about to come; how do I meet him? Answer: first seize what he cherishes, and he will comply."

「故形人而我無形，則我專而敵分。…無所不備，則無所不寡。寡者，備人者也；衆者，使人備己者也。」…「人皆知我所以勝之形，而莫知吾所以制勝之形。故其戰勝不復，而應形於無窮。」…「夫兵形象水，水之行，避高而趨下；兵之勝，避實而擊虛。水因地而制行，兵因敵而制勝。故兵無成勢，無恒形，能因敵變化而取勝者，謂之神。」 — "So I make others take form while I have none; then I am concentrated and the enemy divided… Preparing everywhere, he is few everywhere. Being few is preparing against others; being many is making others prepare against you… Everyone knows the form by which I won, but no one knows the form by which I controlled the victory. So the victories are not repeated, and the response to forms is without end… The army's form is like water: water in its course avoids the high and hastens to the low; an army in its victory avoids the solid and strikes the empty. Water shapes its course by the ground; an army shapes its victory by the enemy. So an army has no fixed 勢 and no constant form; one who can take victory by changing with the enemy is called divine."

「凡興師十萬，出征千里，百姓之費，公家之奉，日費千金，…相守數年，以爭一日之勝，而愛爵祿百金，不知敵之情者，不仁之至也，非人之將也，非主之佐也，非勝之主也。故明君賢將，所以動而勝人，成功出於眾者，先知也。先知者，不可取於鬼神，不可象於事，不可驗於度，必取於人，知敵之情者也。」…「五間之事，主必知之，知之必在於反間，故反間不可不厚也。」 — "Raising a hundred thousand and marching a thousand li, the people's spending and the state's outlay come to a thousand gold a day… To hold out for several years to contend for one day's victory, yet begrudge ranks, salaries and a hundred gold and so not know the enemy's situation, is the height of inhumanity: no general of men, no aid to a ruler, no master of victory. What lets the enlightened ruler and the wise general move and defeat others, with achievements beyond the crowd, is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge cannot be taken from ghosts and spirits, cannot be got by analogy with events, cannot be verified by measurement (度; 李筌: 「度，數也」); it must be taken from people who know the enemy's situation… The ruler must know the work of the five kinds of spy; knowing it rests on the converted spy, so the converted spy must be treated generously."

「三軍之衆，可使必受敵而無敗者，奇正是也。」…「凡戰者，以正合，以奇勝。…戰勢不過奇正，奇正之變，不可勝窮也。奇正相生，如循環之無端，孰能窮之哉？」…「勇怯，勢也」…「故善戰者，求之於勢，不責於人，故能擇人而任勢。任勢者，其戰人也，如轉木石。木石之性，安則靜，危則動，方則止，圓則行。」 — "That the whole army can take the enemy's attack without defeat is the work of 奇 and 正… In all battle, engage with the regular and win with the irregular… The 勢 of battle are no more than irregular and regular, yet their changes cannot all be exhausted. Irregular and regular give rise to each other like a ring without end; who can exhaust them?… Courage and cowardice are a matter of 勢… So the skilled fighter seeks it in 勢 and does not demand it of people; so he can choose people and rely on 勢. One who relies on 勢 fights with men as one rolls logs and stones: by nature logs and stones are still on level ground and move on a slope; square, they stop; round, they roll." 勢 is defined in 始計 as 「勢者，因利而制權也」: "勢 is shaping one's leverage by advantage."

「途有所不由，軍有所不擊，城有所不攻，地有所不爭，君命有所不受。」 — "There are roads one does not take, armies one does not strike, cities one does not attack, ground one does not contest, ruler's commands one does not accept." 「故戰道必勝，主曰無戰，必戰可也；戰道不勝，主曰必戰，無戰可也。是故進不求名，退不避罪，唯民是保，而利合於主，國之寶也。」 — "So when the way of battle means sure victory, though the ruler says do not fight, fighting is permissible; when the way of battle does not mean victory, though the ruler says fight, not fighting is permissible. So one who advances not seeking fame and retreats not avoiding blame, protecting only the people and whose gain accords with the ruler's, is the treasure of the state." 謀攻 names three ways the ruler brings trouble on his army: 「不知軍之不可以進而謂之進，不知軍之不可以退而謂之退，是為縻軍；不知三軍之事，而同三軍之政，則軍士惑矣；不知三軍之權，而同三軍之任，則軍士疑矣。」 — "ordering advance or retreat without knowing whether the army can, which is hobbling the army; sharing in the army's administration without knowing its affairs, which confuses the soldiers; sharing in its command without knowing its expedients, which makes them doubt." The 史記 drill story shows him acting on this: 「臣既已受命為將，將在軍，君命有所不受。」 — "Having received the command as general, while the general is with the army there are commands of the ruler he does not accept." The bamboo 〈四變〉 explains the clause. It is in English only here (Ames): "That there are commands from the ruler not to be obeyed means that if the commands of the ruler are contrary to these four contingencies, do not obey them."

「故用兵之法，十則圍之，五則攻之，倍則分之，敵則能戰之，少則能守之，不若則能避之。故小敵之堅，大敵之擒也。」 — "So in using troops: ten to one, surround them; five to one, attack them; double, divide them; equal, be able to fight them; fewer, be able to hold; not a match, be able to avoid them. So the stubbornness of a small force is the capture of a large one." 「故兵非貴益多也，惟無武進，足以併力、料敵、取人而已。夫惟無慮而易敵者，必擒於人。」 — "So in war more is not what is valued; only do not advance rashly; enough to combine strength, size up the enemy and take men. Only one who lacks forethought and slights the enemy is sure to be captured by others." Readings differ:

• 十一家注 reads 「少則能逃之」.
• On 倍則分之, 曹操 reads "divide your own force into regular and irregular" (「以二敵一，則一術爲正，一術爲奇」), 王晳 reads it as splitting into two forces so the enemy is hit front and back, and 陳皥 as sending part of the force at what the enemy must rescue, so that the enemy divides.
• Ames 1993 (n.125) swaps the 倍 and 敵 clauses by emendation.

「故將有五危︰必死，可殺也﹔必生，可虜也﹔忿速，可侮也﹔廉潔，可辱也﹔愛民，可煩也。凡此五者，將之過也，用兵之災也。覆軍殺將，必以五危，不可不察也。」 — "The general has five dangers: set on dying, he can be killed; set on living, he can be captured; quick to anger, he can be insulted; scrupulous, he can be shamed; loving the people, he can be troubled. These five are the general's faults, the calamities of using troops. The overturned army and the slain general come from the five dangers; they must be examined." 「故兵有走者、有弛者、有陷者、有崩者、有亂者、有北者。凡此六者，非天之災，將之過也。夫勢均，以一擊十，曰走；卒强吏弱，曰弛；吏强卒弱，曰陷；大吏怒而不服，遇敵懟而自戰，將不知其能，曰崩；將弱不嚴，教道不明，吏卒無常，陳兵縱橫，曰亂；將不能料敵，以少合衆，以弱擊強，兵無選鋒，曰北。」 — "Armies have flight, slackness, sinking, collapse, disorder and rout. These six are not calamities from heaven but the general's faults. With 勢 equal, striking ten with one is flight; strong men and weak officers is slackness; strong officers and weak men is sinking; senior officers angry and insubordinate, fighting on their own from resentment when they meet the enemy, with the general not knowing their ability, is collapse; a weak, lax general, unclear instruction, officers and men without constancy and ranks every which way is disorder; a general who cannot size up the enemy, meets many with few and strong with weak, and has no picked vanguard, is rout."

「約束不明，申令不熟，將之罪也；既已明而不如法者，吏士之罪也。」 — "If the rules are not clear and the orders not made familiar, it is the general's fault; if they are already clear and are not followed as the law requires, it is the officers' fault." In the story he says the first sentence alone after the first failure, then repeats the orders before the second. The bamboo 〈見吳王〉 has the same rule. It is in English only here (Ames): "If one does not order them, or if one's orders are not understood, it is the fault of the commander. If one has already issued orders and has explained them, it is the fault of the field officers." 「卒未親附而罰之，則不服，不服則難用也。卒已親附而罰不行，則不可用也。故令之以文，齊之以武，是謂必取。」 — "Punish soldiers before they are attached and they will not submit, and if they do not submit they are hard to use. Once they are attached, if punishment is not carried out, they cannot be used. So command them with civility and keep them uniform with martial discipline: this is called sure success." 「視卒如嬰兒，故可以與之赴深溪；視卒如愛子，故可與之俱死。厚而不能使，愛而不能令，亂而不能治，譬若驕子，不可用也。」 — "Regard the soldiers as infants and they will go into deep valleys with you; regard them as beloved sons and they will die with you. Generous but unable to direct, loving but unable to command, disorderly and unable to control: they are like spoiled children, of no use."

「故策之而知得失之計，作之而知動靜之理，形之而知死生之地，角之而知有餘不足之處。」 — "So reckon them to know the calculation of gain and loss; stir them to know the pattern of movement and stillness; give them form to know the ground of death and life; test them to know where there is surplus and shortage." 「敵近而靜者，恃其險也；遠而挑戰者，欲人之進也；…辭卑而益備者，進也；辭強而進驅者，退也；…無約而請和者，謀也；…半進半退者，誘也；杖而立者，饑也；…見利而不進者，勞也；鳥集者，虛也；夜呼者，恐也；軍擾者，將不重也；旌旗動者，亂也；吏怒者，倦也；…數賞者，窘也；數罰者，困也。」 — "Near and quiet: they rely on their strong ground. Far off and challenging: they want you to advance… Humble words and more preparation: they will advance. Strong words and pressing forward: they will withdraw… Asking for peace without a pledge: a plot… Half advancing, half withdrawing: a lure. Leaning on their weapons as they stand: hungry… Seeing advantage and not advancing: weary. Birds gathering: the camp is empty. Calling out at night: afraid. The camp in uproar: the general lacks weight. Banners moving: disorder. Officers angry: exhausted… Frequent rewards: in straits. Frequent punishments: in distress."

「三軍可奪氣，將軍可奪心。是故朝氣銳，晝氣惰，暮氣歸。故善用兵者，避其銳氣，擊其惰歸，此治氣者也；以治待亂，以靜待嘩，此治心者也；以近待遠，以佚待勞，以飽待饑，此治力者也；無邀正正之旗，無擊堂堂之陣，此治變者也。」 — "The army's spirit can be taken; the general's heart can be taken. So morning spirit is keen, midday spirit slack, evening spirit turns homeward. So the skilled user of troops avoids keen spirit and strikes the slack and homeward: this is managing spirit. With order await disorder, with stillness await clamour: this is managing the heart. Near, await the distant; at ease, await the weary; fed, await the hungry: this is managing strength. Do not intercept orderly banners, do not strike an imposing array: this is managing change." 「故用兵之法，高陵勿向，背丘勿逆，佯北勿從，銳卒勿攻，餌兵勿食，歸師勿遏，圍師必闕，窮寇勿迫，此用兵之法也。」 — "So the method of using troops: a high hill, do not face up it; a hill at their back, do not oppose; feigned flight, do not follow; crack troops, do not attack; bait troops, do not swallow; an army going home, do not block; a surrounded army, always leave a gap; a desperate enemy, do not press." The commentators read 朝/晝/暮 two ways: 杜牧 takes them as times of day, while 孟氏, 梅堯臣 and 王晳 take them as the start, middle and end of a campaign.

「是故散地則無戰，輕地則無止，爭地則無攻，交地則無絕，衢地則合交，重地則掠，圮地則行，圍地則謀，死地則戰。」 — "So on scattered ground, do not fight; on light ground, do not halt; on contested ground, do not attack; on crossing ground, do not be cut off; on crossroads ground, join in alliances; on heavy ground, plunder; on broken ground, keep going; on enclosed ground, scheme; on dead ground, fight." (Each ground is defined in l.138, e.g. 「疾戰則存，不疾戰則亡者，為死地」 — "ground where you survive if you fight fast and perish if you do not is dead ground.") 「投之無所往，死且不北。死焉不得，士人盡力。兵士甚陷則不懼，無所往則固，深入則拘，不得已則鬥。」…「投之亡地然後存，陷之死地然後生。夫衆陷於害，然後能為勝敗。」…「九地之變，屈伸之利，人情之理，不可不察也。」 — "Throw them where there is nowhere to go and they will die rather than flee; facing death, what can they not achieve? Officers and men give their full strength. Soldiers deeply trapped do not fear; with nowhere to go they hold firm; deep in, they cling together; with no choice, they fight… Throw them into ground where they would perish, and they survive; sink them into dead ground, and they live. Only when the mass has fallen into harm can it decide victory or defeat… The variations of the nine grounds, the advantage of drawing in or extending, the pattern of human feelings: these must be examined." The same chapter gives a second list for each ground of what the commander himself does (「散地，吾將一其志…死地，吾將示之以不活」, l.148).

「吴王问孙子曰："六将军分守晋国之地，孰先亡、孰固成？"孙子曰："范、中行是(氏)先亡。""孰为之次？""智是(氏)为次。""孰为之次？""韩魏为次，赵毋失其故法，晋国归焉。"」 (simplified characters, as printed by 何炳棣) — "The King of Wu asked Master Sun: 'Of the six commanders who divided and held the land of Jin, which will perish first, and which will hold firm?' Master Sun said: 'Fan and Zhonghang will perish first.' 'Who next?' 'Zhi next.' 'Who next?' 'Han and Wei next. Zhao has not lost its old laws, and the state of Jin will go to it.'" The reasoning is in English only here (Ames): "Fan and Chung-hang took eighty square paces as a yuan, and took one hundred and sixty square paces as a chen, and then made five households their basic tax unit. The land area was small and the officials in office were many. With five households as the basic tax unit, the public coffers prospered. With the public coffers prospering and the officials in office many, the ruler became arrogant and his ministers wasteful. And in pursuit of great exploits they embarked on frequent wars. Thus I say they were the first to perish… Chao took one hundred and twenty square paces as a yuan, and took two hundred and forty square paces as a chen, and so there were no new taxes forthcoming for the public coffers. With the public coffers empty and the officials in office few, the ruler was frugal and his ministers humble in their management of what was a prosperous people. Thus I say that he held on to his lands." The closing line is the king's, not Sunzi's: 「王者之道明矣，厚爱其民者也」 — "The way of the true king is clear: it is to love his people generously."

為學日益，為道日損。損之又損，以至於無為。無為而無不為。取天下常以無事，及其有事，不足以取天下。 — "Pursuing learning, one gains daily; pursuing the Way, one loses daily. Lose and lose again, until one arrives at not-doing. Not doing, and nothing is left undone. The world is always taken by having no business; once one has business, one is not enough to take the world." Guodian 乙: 学者日益，为道者日员（损）。员（损）之或员（损），以至亡为也，亡为而亡不为。 — "The learner gains daily; the one who does the Way loses daily. Lose and again lose, until not-doing; not-doing, and nothing not done."

名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？是故甚愛必大費，多藏必厚亡，知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。 — "Name or self: which is dearer? Self or goods: which counts for more? Gaining or losing: which is the sickness? So great fondness must mean great expense, and much hoarding must mean heavy loss. Knowing what is enough, one is not disgraced; knowing to stop, one is not endangered; one can last long." (ch. 44) · 禍莫大於不知足；咎莫大於欲得。故知足之足，常足矣。 — "No calamity is greater than not knowing what is enough; no fault is greater than wanting to get. So the enough of knowing enough is a lasting enough." (ch. 46) · 始制有名，名亦既有，夫亦將知止，知止所以不殆。 — "When ordering begins there are names; once there are names, one will also know to stop; knowing to stop is how one is not endangered." (ch. 32) Guodian 甲: 古（故）智（知）足不辱，智（知）止不怠（殆），可以长旧（久）。 (ch. 44) · 化（祸）莫大○（乎）不智（知）足。智（知）足之为足，此亘（恒）足矣。 (ch. 46) · 夫亦○（将）智（知）止，智（知）止所以不○（殆）。 (ch. 32)

持而盈之，不如其已；揣而梲之，不可長保。金玉滿堂，莫之能守；富貴而驕，自遺其咎。功遂身退，天之道。 — "To hold it and fill it is not as good as stopping. Hammer it to a point and it cannot be kept long. Gold and jade fill the hall and none can guard them. Rich, high and arrogant, one brings blame on oneself. The work done, the self withdraws: this is the Way of heaven." (ch. 9) · 功成而弗居。夫唯弗居，是以不去。 — "The work is achieved and he does not dwell in it. Just because he does not dwell in it, it does not leave." (ch. 2) Guodian 甲: ○而○（盈）之，不不若已。…攻（功）述（遂）身退，天之道也。 (ch. 9) · 成而弗居。天〈夫〉唯弗居也，是以弗去也。 (ch. 2)

為者敗之，執者失之。是以聖人無為故無敗，無執故無失。 — "One who acts on it spoils it; one who holds on to it loses it. So the sage does not act, and therefore does not spoil; does not hold, and therefore does not lose." (ch. 64) · 將欲取天下而為之，吾見其不得已。天下神器，不可為也，為者敗之，執者失之。…是以聖人去甚，去奢，去泰。 — "One who wants to take the world and act on it: I see that he will not get it. The world is a sacred vessel; it cannot be acted on. One who acts on it spoils it; one who holds it loses it. … So the sage discards the extreme, the extravagant, the excessive." (ch. 29) Guodian 甲: 为之者败之，执之者远之。是以圣人亡为古（故）亡败；亡执古（故）亡○（失）。 ("one who holds it pushes it away") · Guodian 丙: 为之者败之，执之者○（失）之。

以正治國，以奇用兵，以無事取天下。…故聖人云：「我無為而民自化，我好靜而民自正，我無事而民自富，我無欲而民自樸。」 — "Govern the state with the straight, use troops with the unexpected, take the world with no business. … So the sage says: 'I do not act, and the people transform themselves; I love stillness, and the people correct themselves; I have no business, and the people enrich themselves; I have no desire, and the people become plain by themselves.'" (ch. 57) · 道常無為而無不為。侯王若能守之，萬物將自化。 — "The Way constantly does not act, and yet nothing is left undone. If lords and kings can keep to it, the ten thousand things will transform by themselves." (ch. 37) Guodian 甲: 以正之（治）邦，以○（奇）○（用）兵，以亡事取天下。…是以圣人之言曰：我无事而民自○（富）。我亡为而民自○（化）。我好青（静）而民自正。我谷（欲）不谷（欲）而民自朴。 (ch. 57) · ○（道）亘（恒）亡为也，侯王能守之，而万勿（物）○（将）自○（化）。 (ch. 37)

其安易持，其未兆易謀。其脆易泮，其微易散。為之於未有，治之於未亂。合抱之木，生於毫末；九層之臺，起於累土；千里之行，始於足下。 — "What is at rest is easy to hold; what has not yet shown a sign is easy to plan for. What is brittle is easy to split; what is minute is easy to scatter. Act on it before it exists; order it before it is in disorder. A tree a man's arms can circle grows from a hair-tip; a nine-storey terrace rises from piled earth; a thousand-li journey begins under the feet." (ch. 64) · 圖難於其易，為大於其細；天下難事必作於易，天下大事必作於細。是以聖人終不為大，故能成其大。夫輕諾必寡信，多易必多難。是以聖人猶難之，故終無難矣 — "Plan for the difficult while it is easy; do the great while it is small. The world's difficult affairs must arise from the easy, its great affairs from the small. So the sage never does the great, and therefore can achieve the great. Light promises must bring little trust; much taken as easy must bring much difficulty. So the sage still treats things as difficult, and therefore in the end has no difficulty." (ch. 63) Guodian 甲: 其安也，易○也。其未○（兆）也，易○（谋）也。其○（脆）也，易畔（判）也。其几也，易○（散）也。为之于其亡又（有）也。○（治）之于其未乱。合□□□□□□□，九成之台甲□□□□□□□□□足下。 (ch. 64) · 为亡为，事亡事，未（味）亡未（味）。大少（小）之多惕（易）必多○（难）。是以圣人猷（犹）○（难）之，古（故）终亡○（难）。 (ch. 63)

民之從事，常於幾成而敗之。慎終如始，則無敗事。 — "People, in their undertakings, often fail when they are close to finishing. Careful at the end as at the beginning: then no undertaking fails." (ch. 64) Guodian 甲: 临事之纪，誓（慎）冬（终）女（如）○（始），此亡败事矣。 — "The rule (紀) for approaching an affair: careful at the end as at the start. Then there is no failed affair." Guodian 丙: ○（慎）终若○（始），则无败事喜（矣）。人之败也，亘（恒）于其○（且）成也败之。 — "…People's failing always comes when they are about to succeed."

知不知上，不知知病。夫唯病病，是以不病。聖人不病，以其病病，是以不病。 — "Knowing not-knowing: highest. Not-knowing knowing: sickness. Only by treating sickness as sickness is one not sick. The sage is not sick because he treats sickness as sickness; therefore he is not sick." (WB) · Silk A: 知不知尚矣，不﹦知﹦病矣 (= 不知不知，病矣 — "not knowing that one does not know is a sickness"). Silk B: 知不知尚矣，不知﹦病矣 (= 不知知，病矣, as WB). Wang Bi's commentary on the clause, not main text: 不知知之不足任則病也 — "not knowing that knowledge cannot be relied on: that is the sickness."

江海所以能為百谷王者，以其善下之，故能為百谷王。是以欲上民，必以言下之。欲先民，必以身後之。是以聖人處上而民不重，處前而民不害。是以天下樂推而不厭，以其不爭，故天下莫能與之爭。 — "Rivers and seas can be kings of the hundred valleys because they are good at being below them. So, wanting to be above the people, one must in speech put oneself below them; wanting to be ahead of the people, one must in person put oneself behind them. So the sage is above and the people do not feel the weight; he is in front and the people are not harmed. So the world gladly pushes him forward and does not tire of it. Because he does not contend, no one in the world can contend with him." Guodian 甲: 圣人之才（在）民前也，以身后之；其才（在）民上也，以言下之。其才（在）民上也，民弗厚也；其才（在）民前也，民弗害也。天下乐进而弗○（厌）。以其不静（争）也，古（故）天下莫能与之静（争）。

我有三寶，持而保之。一曰慈，二曰儉，三曰不敢為天下先。慈故能勇，儉故能廣，不敢為天下先，故能成器長。今舍慈且勇，舍儉且廣，舍後且先，死矣！夫慈以戰則勝，以守則固。天將救之，以慈衛之。 — "I have three treasures; I hold and keep them. The first is compassion, the second frugality, the third not daring to be first in the world. Compassionate, one can be brave; frugal, one can be broad; not daring to be first in the world, one can become head of the vessels. Now to give up compassion and yet be brave, give up frugality and yet be broad, give up being behind and yet be first — that is death. With compassion, one wins in attack and holds firm in defence. Heaven will save him, guarding him with compassion."

反者道之動，弱者道之用。 — "Reversal is the movement of the Way; weakness is the use of the Way." (ch. 40) · 故堅強者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。是以兵強則不勝… 強大處下，柔弱處上。 — "So the hard and strong are companions of death, the soft and weak companions of life. So when an army is strong it does not win… The strong and great sit below; the soft and weak sit above." (ch. 76) · 天下莫柔弱於水，而攻堅強者，莫之能勝，其無以易之。弱之勝強，柔之勝剛，天下莫不知莫能行。是以聖人云：「受國之垢，是謂社稷主；受國不祥，是為天下王。」正言若反。 — "Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water, yet for attacking the hard and strong nothing surpasses it; nothing can take its place. That the weak beats the strong and the soft beats the hard, everyone in the world knows and no one can practise. So the sage says: 'One who takes on the state's filth is called lord of its altars; one who takes on the state's misfortune is king of the world.' Straight words seem reversed." (ch. 78) Guodian 甲: 返也者，道○（动）也。溺（弱）也者，道之○（用）也。 (ch. 40)

將欲歙之，必固張之；將欲弱之，必固強之；將欲廢之，必固興之；將欲奪之，必固與之。是謂微明。柔弱勝剛強。魚不可脫於淵，國之利器不可以示人。 — "About to shrink it, one must first stretch it; about to weaken it, one must first strengthen it; about to abolish it, one must first raise it; about to seize it, one must first give to it. This is called subtle clarity. The soft and weak beat the hard and strong. Fish must not leave the deep; the state's sharp instruments must not be shown to people." Silk A: 將欲拾之，必古張之；將欲弱之，□□強之；將欲去之，必古與之；將欲奪之，必古予之。是胃微明。柔弱勝強。魚不脫於瀟，邦利器不可以視人。

以道佐人主者，不以兵強天下。其事好還。…善有果而已，不敢以取強。果而勿矜，果而勿伐，果而勿驕。果而不得已，果而勿強。 — "One who assists a ruler with the Way does not force the world with troops; such affairs tend to come back. … The good one has a result and that is all; he does not dare use it to take strength. Result, and no vaunting; result, and no boasting; result, and no arrogance; result, as something unavoidable; result, and no forcing." (ch. 30) · 兵者不祥之器，非君子之器，不得已而用之，恬淡為上。勝而不美，而美之者，是樂殺人。…戰勝，以喪禮處之。 — "Weapons are instruments of ill omen, not the gentleman's instruments; when it cannot be avoided he uses them, and calm indifference is best. He wins and does not find it beautiful; one who finds it beautiful delights in killing people. … A victory in war is handled with the rites of mourning." (ch. 31) Guodian 甲: 以○（道）差（佐）人○（主）者，不谷（欲）以兵强于天下。善者果而已，不以取强。果而弗发（伐），果而弗乔（骄），果而弗○（矜），是胃（谓）果而不强。 (ch. 30) · Guodian 丙: …得已而甬（用）之。○○为上，弗○（美）也。○〈美〉之，是乐杀人。…战○（胜）则以丧豊（礼）居之。 (ch. 31)

曲則全，枉則直，窪則盈，敝則新，少則得，多則惑。是以聖人抱一為天下式。不自見故明，不自是故彰，不自伐故有功，不自矜故長。夫唯不爭，故天下莫能與之爭。 — "Bent, then whole; crooked, then straight; hollow, then full; worn, then new; little, then gained; much, then confused. So the sage embraces the one and is the world's model. Not displaying himself, he is clear; not affirming himself, he is distinguished; not boasting, he has merit; not vaunting, he lasts. Just because he does not contend, no one in the world can contend with him." (ch. 22) · 企者不立，跨者不行，自見者不明，自是者不彰，自伐者無功，自矜者不長。其在道也，曰餘食贅行。物或惡之，故有道者不處。 — "On tiptoe one does not stand; striding, one does not walk. Who displays himself is not clear; who affirms himself is not distinguished; who boasts has no merit; who vaunts does not last. In the Way these are called leftover food and superfluous action. Things may loathe them, so one who has the Way does not dwell in them." (ch. 24)

上善若水。水善利萬物而不爭，處眾人之所惡，故幾於道。居善地，心善淵，與善仁，言善信，正善治，事善能，動善時。夫唯不爭，故無尤。 — "The highest good is like water. Water is good at benefiting the ten thousand things and does not contend; it settles where the crowd dislikes, and so it is near the Way. Dwelling: good is the ground. Heart: good is depth. Giving: good is benevolence. Speech: good is trust. Governing: good is order. Affairs: good is ability. Moving: good is timing. Just because it does not contend, there is no blame." Silk A: 上善治水﹦善利萬物而有靜…夫唯不靜，故無尤. Silk B: 上善如水﹦善利萬物而有爭…予善天，言善信…夫唯不爭，故無尤.

知人者智，自知者明。勝人者有力，自勝者強。知足者富。強行者有志。不失其所者久。死而不亡者壽。 — "One who knows others is clever; one who knows himself is clear. One who overcomes others has force; one who overcomes himself is strong. One who knows what is enough is rich. One who presses on has will. One who does not lose his place lasts. One who dies and does not perish is long-lived."

三十輻共一轂，當其無，有車之用。埏埴以為器，當其無，有器之用。鑿戶牖以為室，當其無，有室之用。故有之以為利，無之以為用。 — "Thirty spokes share one hub; in its nothing lies the cart's use. Clay is moulded into a vessel; in its nothing lies the vessel's use. Doors and windows are cut to make a room; in its nothing lies the room's use. So what is there makes for benefit; what is not there makes for use."

老子曰：「子所言者，其人與骨皆已朽矣，獨其言在耳。且君子得其時則駕，不得其時則蓬累而行。吾聞之，良賈深藏若虛，君子盛德容貌若愚。去子之驕氣與多欲，態色與淫志，是皆無益於子之身。吾所以告子，若是而已。」 — "Laozi said: 'The men you speak of have rotted, they and their bones; only their words remain. And a gentleman, when he gets his time, rides out; when he does not get his time, he goes off like drifting tumbleweed. I have heard that a good merchant stores deep as if empty, and a gentleman of abundant virtue looks like a fool. Get rid of your arrogance and many desires, your airs and wanton ambition; none of these benefits your person. What I have to tell you is this, and only this.'" · Narrator: 老子修道德，其學以自隱無名為務。居周久之，見周之衰，乃遂去。 — "Laozi cultivated the Way and virtue; his learning made hiding himself and having no name its task. He lived long in Zhou; seeing Zhou's decline, he then left."

老耼曰：「知其雄，守其雌，爲天下谿。知其白，守其辱，爲天下谷。」人皆取先，己獨取後，曰：「受天下之詬（一作垢）。」人皆取實，己獨取虛。无藏也，故有餘，巋然而有餘。其行身也，徐而不費，无爲也而笑巧。人皆求福，己獨曲全，曰：「苟免於咎。」以深爲根，以約爲紀，曰：「堅則毀矣，銳則挫矣。」常寬容於物，不削於人。 — "Lao Dan said: 'Know the male, keep to the female, and be the world's ravine; know the white, keep to the disgraced, and be the world's valley.' Everyone takes the front; he alone takes the rear, saying: 'Take on the world's reproach' (variant: filth). Everyone takes the solid; he alone takes the empty. Hoarding nothing, he has more than enough, abundantly. In conducting himself he is slow and not wasteful; he does nothing and laughs at cleverness. Everyone seeks good fortune; he alone keeps bent and whole, saying: 'Just escape blame.' He takes depth as the root and restraint as the rule, saying: 'The hard is broken; the sharp is blunted.' He is always tolerant of things and does not pare away at people."

(English original)

• "If a change results in user programs breaking, it's a bug in the kernel. We never EVER blame the user programs." … "WE DO NOT BREAK USERSPACE!"
• "The first rule is: - we don't cause regressions and the corollary is that when regressions do occur, we admit to them and fix them, instead of blaming user space."
• "If the kernel used to work for you, the rule is that it continues to work for you. There have been exceptions, but they are few and far between, and they generally have some major and fundamental reasons for having happened, that were basically entirely unavoidable, and people tried_hard to avoid them."
• "But if something actually breaks, then the change must get fixed or reverted. And it gets fixed in the kernel."
• "Nobody can say "I now broke the API you used, and now you need to fix it up". Whoever broke something gets to fix it too."

(English original)

• "Talk is cheap. Show me the code." (his whole reply to Jamie Lokier's claim that the best of user-space and kernel threads could be combined "in less than 8kB per thread")
• "untested code that clearly didn't do what it claimed it did, and which caused me to not even accept the main pull request"

(English original)

• "As far as the kernel is concerned, a regressions is THE KERNEL NOT GIVING THE SAME END RESULT WITH THE SAME USER SPACE." (2017)
• "The rules about regressions have never been about any kind of documented behavior, or where the code lives. The rules about regressions are always about "breaks user workflow". Users are literally the only thing that matters." (2020)
• "And our regression rule has never been "behavior doesn't change". That would mean that we could never make any changes at all." (2017)
• "But if you have some random test that now behaves differently, it's not a regression. It's a warning sign, sure: tests are useful." (2024)
• "You can make any changes to an API you like - as long as nobody notices." (2020/2021, see Gaps)

(English original) "The name of the game is to avoid having to make a decision. In particular, if somebody tells you "choose (a) or (b), we really need you to decide on this", you're in trouble as a manager. The people you manage had better know the details better than you, so if they come to you for a technical decision, you're screwed. You're clearly not competent to make that decision for them." … "So the name of the game is to avoid decisions, at least the big and painful ones. Making small and non-consequential decisions is fine, and makes you look like you know what you're doing, so what a kernel manager needs to do is to turn the big and painful ones into small things where nobody really cares."

(English original) "It helps to realize that the key difference between a big decision and a small one is whether you can fix your decision afterwards. Any decision can be made small by just always making sure that if you were wrong (and you will be wrong), you can always undo the damage later by backtracking." … "Thus the key to avoiding big decisions becomes to just avoiding to do things that can't be undone. Don't get ushered into a corner from which you cannot escape." … "while the actual work was easy enough to undo by just deleting it, you may have irrevocably lost the trust of that engineer. And remember: "irrevocable" was what we tried to avoid in the first place, and your decision ended up being a big one after all."

(English original) "Some people react badly to smart people. Others take advantage of them. Make sure that you, as a kernel maintainer, are in the second group. Suck up to them, because they are the people who will make your job easier. In particular, they'll be able to make your decisions for you, which is what the game is all about." … "So when you find somebody smarter than you are, just coast along. Your management responsibilities largely become ones of saying "Sounds like a good idea - go wild", or "That sounds good, but what about xxx?"." … "One thing to look out for is to realize that greatness in one area does not necessarily translate to other areas. So you might prod people in specific directions, but let's face it, they might be good at what they do, and suck at everything else. The good news is that people tend to naturally gravitate back to what they are good at, so it's not like you are doing something irreversible when you do prod them in some direction, just don't push too hard."

(English original, in source order) "Happily, both of these reasons can be mitigated effectively by just admitting up-front that you don't have a friggin' clue, and telling people ahead of the fact that your decision is purely preliminary, and might be the wrong thing. You should always reserve the right to change your mind, and make people very aware of that." … "After all, if they aren't certain whether it's a good idea, you sure as hell shouldn't encourage them by promising them that what they work on will be included. Make them at least think twice before they embark on a big endeavor." … "The best thing you can do as a manager is not to instill confidence, but rather a healthy dose of critical thinking on what they do." … (§3) "While it turns out that most people are idiots, the corollary to that is sadly that you are one too"

(English original) "Btw, another way to avoid a decision is to plaintively just whine "can't we just do both?" and look pitiful. Trust me, it works. If it's not clear which approach is better, they'll eventually figure it out. The answer may end up being that both teams get so frustrated by the situation that they just give up." … "That may sound like a failure, but it's usually a sign that there was something wrong with both projects, and the reason the people involved couldn't decide was that they were both wrong."

(English original) "In fact, I'm a huge proponent of designing your code around the data, rather than the other way around, and I think it's one of the reasons git has been fairly successful ()." … "() I will, in fact, claim that the difference between a bad programmer and a good one is whether he considers his code or his data structures more important. Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships."

(English original, spoken; about two ways to remove an entry from a singly linked list) "I want you to understand that sometimes you can see a problem in a different way and rewrite it so that a special case goes away and becomes the normal case. And that's good code." … "To me, the sign of people I really want to work with is that they have good taste" … "Good taste is about really seeing the big patterns and kind of instinctively knowing what's the right way to do things."

(English original) "Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the message. I want to understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too. Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that you don't maintain, explain why. I will see it in the diffstat anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious. And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do and why they do it, but explain the timing. What happened that this didn't go through the merge window.."

(English original) "I want clean history, but that really means (a) clean and (b) history. People can (and probably should) rebase their private trees (their own work). That's a cleanup. But never other peoples code. That's a "destroy history"" … "You must never EVER destroy other peoples history. You must not rebase commits other people did." … "Notice that this really is about other peoples history, not about other peoples code." … "once you've published your history in some public site, other people may be using it, and so now it's clearly not your private history any more." … "Don't expose your crap. This means: if you're still in the "git rebase" phase, you don't push it out." … "Don't merge upstream code at random points." … "Slightly more complex version: "Always have a reason for merging downstream stuff"." … "But if I see a lot of "Merge branch 'linus'" in your logs, I'm not going to pull from you, because your tree has obviously had random crap in it that shouldn't be there."

(English original) "Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small trivial project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you'll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision. So start small, and think about the details. Don't think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn't solve some fairly immediate need, it's almost certainly over-designed." … "projects have a life of their own, and you should not try to enforce your "vision" too strongly on them. Most often you're wrong anyway, and if you're not flexible and willing to take input from others (and willing to change direction when it turned out your vision was flawed), you'll never get anything good done. In other words, be willing to admit your mistakes" · TED2016: "I am not a visionary. I do not have a five-year plan. I'm an engineer." … "But I'm looking at the ground, and I want to fix the pothole that's right in front of me before I fall in."

(English original)

• Doc: "Linus Torvalds is the final arbiter of all changes accepted into the Linux kernel. … He gets a lot of e-mail, and, at this point, very few patches go through Linus directly, so typically you should do your best to -avoid- sending him e-mail."
• Doc: "The amount of attention that Linus pays to specific patches received in a pull operation varies. It is clear that, sometimes, he looks quite closely. But, as a general rule, Linus trusts the subsystem maintainers to not send bad patches upstream."
• His 2005 words: "I can process a hundred emails almost as easily as one, as long as I trust the maintainer (which, when it's used as a BK replacement, I obviously do)." … "at least try to distribute the merging out over a few people rather than making me be the throttle."

(English original) "Which brings us to the best way of taking the blame: do it for someone else. You'll feel good for taking the fall, they'll feel good about not getting blamed" … "Then make the developer who really screwed up (if you can find them) know in private that they screwed up. Not just so they can avoid it in the future, but so that they know they owe you one. And, perhaps even more importantly, they're also likely the person who can fix it." … "Taking the blame is also why you get to be manager in the first place. It's part of what makes people trust you"

(English original) "Similarly, don't be too polite or subtle about things. Politeness easily ends up going overboard and hiding the problem, and as they say, "On the internet, nobody can hear you being subtle". Use a big blunt object to hammer the point in, because you can't really depend on people getting your point otherwise. Some humor can help pad both the bluntness and the moralizing." … "don't call people dckheads (at least not in public)" / "learn how to apologize when you forgot rule (1)" … "There's one thing people hate even more than being called "dckhead", and that is being called a "d*ckhead" in a sanctimonious voice. The first you can apologize for, the second one you won't really get the chance." … "It turns out that alienating people is fairly easy, and un-alienating them is hard. Thus "alienating" immediately falls under the heading of "not reversible"" · 2018: "My flippant attacks in emails have been both unprofessional and uncalled for. Especially at times when I made it personal. In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me. I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry." … "hey, I need to change some of my behavior"

(English original) "Coding style is very personal, and I won't force my views on anybody, but this is what goes for anything that I have to be able to maintain, and I'd prefer it for most other things too. Please at least consider the points made here." … "if you need more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix your program." … "Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing." … "Another measure of the function is the number of local variables. They shouldn't exceed 5-10, or you're doing something wrong." … "You know you're brilliant, but maybe you'd like to understand what you did 2 weeks from now." … "Generally, you want your comments to tell WHAT your code does, not HOW." … "But remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming."

(English original) "Describe your problem. Whether your patch is a one-line bug fix or 5000 lines of a new feature, there must be an underlying problem that motivated you to do this work." … "Quantify optimizations and trade-offs. If you claim improvements in performance, memory consumption, stack footprint, or binary size, include numbers that back them up. But also describe non-obvious costs." … "Describe the expected downsides of your optimization so that the reviewer can weigh costs against benefits." … "Don't just say that this is version N of the patch (series)." … "I.e., the patch (series) and its description should be self-contained."

(English original) "Separate each logical change into a separate patch." … "On the other hand, if you make a single change to numerous files, group those changes into a single patch." … "The point to remember is that each patch should make an easily understood change that can be verified by reviewers. Each patch should be justifiable on its own merits." … "take special care to ensure that the kernel builds and runs properly after each patch in the series. Developers using git bisect to track down a problem can end up splitting your patch series at any point; they will not thank you if you introduce bugs in the middle." … "If you cannot condense your patch set into a smaller set of patches, then only post say 15 or so at a time and wait for review and integration."