Sima Qian (citing Yan An)

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"To incite troubles and leave them unsolved, to disband the armies only to call them up again, bringing sorrow and hardship to those near at hand and alarm to distant lands--this is no way to insure the continuance of the dynasty."

• Quote from an essay attributed to Yan An in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 112) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Josephus

Josephus (c. 37/38-100)

"I fail to see how victory over a feeble enemy can be any indication of power."

• The Jewish War (Book I, section 8) by Josephus, translated by Martin Hammond (Oxford University Press, 2017).

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Livy

Livy (c. 59 BCE-17 CE)

"Men fighting for their own liberty and prestige are very different creatures from men who are called upon to use their judgement, unclouded by passion, when the fight is over."

• The History of Rome (Book 4, section 6) by Livy, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.

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Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645)

"Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft, and troopers should know this Way. There is no warrior in the world today who really understands the Way of strategy."

• From Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings, translated by V. Harris (Lord Majesty Productions, 2005 edition).

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"In all relations with one's neighbours freedom is the result of being able to hold one's own, and as for these neighbours, who, not content with those close to them, are trying to spread their dominion far and wide, with them we must simply fight it out to the last."

• History of the Peloponnesian War (Book IV, section 92) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972). The quote comes from a speech that Thucydides wrote while in the character of Pagondus. 

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Sima Qian

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE)

"Those who attempt to vent their anger on innocent persons can never hope to live for long."

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji 107) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings recorded between 6th-3rd century BCE)

"Weakness
     Stems from
     Preparing against attack.

Strength
     Stems from
     Obliging the enemy
     To prepare against an attack."

• Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter Six), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics edition, 2009).

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Pericles

Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE)

"A general ought not only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes."

• Quote attributed to Pericles by Plutarch in Parallel Lives (Life of Pericles, 8.5). The edition used here is from the Harvard Classics series, edited by Charles W. Eliot, and published by P. F. Collier & Son (1909, 1937).

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Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"Are we to stir up evil war again, with all the sound and fury of battle, or shall we make peace between the two sides?"

• From The Iliad (Book 4, approx. line 10) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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Odin (from Hávamál)

Odin (from Hávamál)

"The cowardly man thinks he'll live for ever,
if he keeps away from fighting;
but old age won't grant him a truce
even if spears spare him."

• This quote comes from stanza 16 of Hávamál (Sayings of the High One), an old poem which was preserved in the 13th-century Poetic Edda which was produced anonymously in Iceland. The translation is by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, 2014).

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Confucius

Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE)

"To lead into battle a people that has not first been instructed is to betray them."

• The Analects of Confucius (Book XIII, section 29/30) translated by Arthur Waley (Vintage Books, 1989). 

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings recorded between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE)

"Managing many
     Is the same as
     Managing few;
     It is a question of
     Division."

• Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter Five), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics edition, 2009).

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"One does not only defend oneself against a superior power when one is attacked; one takes measures in advance to prevent the attack materializing."

• From a speech attributed to Alcibiades (c. 450-404 BCE) in the History of the Peloponnesian War (Book VI, section 18) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).

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Mo Tzu

Mo Tzu (c. 5th century BCE)

"Those who strive to overthrow others simply drive the people to their death. What the people long for is life, and what they hate most is death."

• From the Basic Writings of Mo Tzu (Honoring the Worthy, part II, section 9), translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1963).

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Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE)

"It is more disgraceful, at least for those who have a name to lose, to gain one's ends by deceit which pretends to be morality than by open violence."

• From a speech attributed to Brasidas in the History of the Peloponnesian War (Book IV, section 86) by Thucydides, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).  

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Xenophon

Xenophon (c. 420-350 BCE)

"As you know, everything that belongs to the losers in a war becomes someone else's property, while if we win we can regard our enemies as our baggage-handlers."

• Anabasis Kyrou (Upcountry March of Cyrus, Book III, section 2) by Xenophon and translated by Robin Waterfield (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). 

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Huo Qubing

Huo Qubing (c. 140-117 BCE)

"The only thing that matters is how one's own strategies are going to work. There is no need to study the old-fashioned rules of warfare!"

• A quote attributed to Huo Qubing in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 108) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (sayings recorded between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE)

"The Skillful Warrior
     Does not rely on the enemy's
     Not coming,
     But on his own
     Preparedness."

• Sun Tzu's The Art of War (Chapter Eight), translated by John Minford (Penguin Classics edition, 2009).  

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Harald Hardrada

King Harald II "Hardrada" Sigurdsson (c. 1015-1066)

"We never kneel in battle
Before the storm of weapons
And crouch behind our shields;
So the noble lady told me.
She told me once to carry
My head always high in battle
Where swords seek to shatter
The skulls of doomed warriors."

• A poem reportedly written by Harald Hardrada shortly before his death in 1066 at Stamford Bridge, and later recorded in King Harald's Saga by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Penguin Classics, 1966, 2005).

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Homer

Homer (flourished c. 700 BCE)

"There's no tenderness in war!"

• From The Iliad (Book 15, approx. line 740) by Homer, translated by E. V. Rieu and revised by Peter Jones (Penguin Classics, 2014).

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