“What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.”

—  Sun Tzu

Source: The Art of War, Chapter II · Waging War

Original

故兵貴勝,不貴久。

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update July 24, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations." by Sun Tzu?
Sun Tzu photo
Sun Tzu 68
ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosophe… -543–-495 BC

Related quotes

Sun Tzu photo

“Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.”

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

Source: The Art of War, Chapter XIII · Intelligence and Espionage

Ilana Mercer photo

“To comprehend the hysterical mass contagion that is the war on Trump it's essential to trace the contours of that other war, 'Operation Iraqi Freedom,' and the way it was peddled to the American public.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

" Beware The Atavistic Dynamics Undergirding Two American Wars, https://misesuk.org/2017/06/21/beware-the-atavistic-dynamics-undergirding-two-american-wars/" The Ludwig von Mises Centre For Property and Freedom, June 21, 2017.
2010s, 2017

Gerd von Rundstedt photo
Ernest Hemingway photo

“War is not won by victory.”

Source: A Farewell to Arms

Hovhannes Bagramyan photo
Ho Chi Minh photo

“An ongoing relationship with God through His Word is essential to the Christian's consistent victory!”

Beth Moore (1957) American evangelist

Source: Believing God

Georges Clemenceau photo

“War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.”

Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French politician

Statement to Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference (12 January 1919), as quoted in The Macmillan Dictionary of Political Quotations (1993) by Lewis D. Eigen and Jonathan Paul Siegel, p. 689
Prime Minister

Andrew Sullivan photo

“Any president can start a war, and use the chaos of disorder that such a war creates as an indefinite argument for prolonging it. It's a war that keeps on giving. Failure means it's even more necessary to keep failing.”

Andrew Sullivan (1963) Journalist, writer, blogger

"Of Their Choosing" http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/09/of-their-choosi.html, The Daily Dish (20 September 2007)

Mao Zedong photo

Related topics