“If you gaze at a single leaf on a single tree, you do not see the other leaves. If you face the tree with no intention and do not fix your eyes on a single leaf, then you will see all the many leaves. If your mind is preoccupied with one leaf, you do not see the others, if you do not set your attention on one; you will see hundreds and thousands of leaves.”

—  Yagyū Munenori

A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (1632)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update July 25, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you gaze at a single leaf on a single tree, you do not see the other leaves. If you face the tree with no intention …" by Yagyū Munenori?
Yagyū Munenori photo
Yagyū Munenori 10
samurai and daimyo of the early Edo period 1571–1646

Related quotes

John Irving photo

“The desire to never leave your side, the desire to never see you again. The desire to see your face asleep on the pillow beside my face and to see your eyes open in the morning when I lie next to you—just watching you, waiting for you to wake up.”

John Irving book Until I Find You

Source: Until I Find You

Sun Tzu photo

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

Variant translations
If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know not thy enemy nor yourself, wallow in defeat every time.
Literal translation: Know [the] other, know [the] self, hundred battles without danger; not knowing [the] other but know [the] self, one win one loss; not knowing [the] other, not knowing [the] self, every battle must [be] lost.
Source: The Art of War, Chapter III · Strategic Attack

“How do you go on knowing that you will never again - not ever, ever - see the person you have loved? How do you survive a single hour, a single minute, a single second of that knowledge? How do you hold yourself together?”

Howard Jacobson book The Finkler Question

Source: The Finkler Question

David Levithan photo

“You could be
the leaf that never falls from the tree
you could be
the sun that never leaves the sky
this might be
the happy ending without the ending
this might be
a reason to try”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: How They Met, and Other Stories

“I would have offered you a forest of truth, but you wish to speak of a single leaf”

David Gemmell (1948–2006) British author of heroic fantasy

Source: Fall of Kings

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“I have a summer gift,
A sunny gift for thee :
See this white vase, where blooms
A beautiful rose tree.
And on its crimson leaves
Your heart must moralize,
For love a lesson takes
Of every leaf that dies.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

(14th May 1825) Song
The London Literary Gazette, 1825

Jane Austen photo

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Meg Cabot photo

“Sometimes what you want is right in front of you. All you have to do is open your eyes and see it.”

Meg Cabot book All American Girl

Source: All-American Girl

Chuck Klosterman photo

“Do you understand? Do you see the forest through the trees? Do you not see what I am no longer not saying to you? If so—congratulations! Prepare to have sex constantly.”

Chuck Klosterman book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Source: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“You see with your mind what others miss with their eyes.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Related topics