EXPLORE OTHER ENGAGE CLASSIC TITLES:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea BY JULES VERNE
A Christmas Carol BY CHARLES DICKENS
A Fighting Man of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man BY JAMES JOYCE
A Princess of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
A Room with a View BY E. M. FORSTER
A Study in Scarlet BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
A Tale of Two Cities BY JULES VERNE
Aesop’s Fables BY AESOP
Alice in Wonderland BY LEWIS CARROLL
Anna Karenina BY LEO TOLSTOY
Anne of Avonlea BY LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Anne of Green Gables BY LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Around the World in 80 Days BY JULES VERNE
As a Man Thinketh BY JAMES ALLEN
Black Beauty BY ANNA SEWELL
Bleak House BY CHARLES DICKENS
Candide BY VOLTAIRE
Common Sense BY THOMAS PAINE
Crime and Punishment BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
Don Quixote BY MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Dracula BY BRAM STOKER
Dubliners BY JAMES JOYCE
Emily of New Moon BY LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Emma BY JANE AUSTEN
Far from the Madding Crowd BY THOMAS HARDY
Frankenstein BY MARY SHELLEY
From the Earth to the Moon BY JULES VERNE
Great Expectations BY CHARLES DICKENS
Grimm’s Fairy Tales BY JAKOB AND WILHELM GRIMM
Gulliver’s Travels BY JONATHAN SWIFT
Hamlet BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hard Times BY CHARLES DICKENS
Heart of Darkness BY JOSEPH CONRAD
Howards End BY E. M. FORSTER
Jane Eyre BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Journey to the Center of the Earth BY JULES VERNE
Kidnapped BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
Kim BY RUDYARD KIPLING
Les Misérables BY VICTOR HUGO
Leviathan BY THOMAS HOBBES
Little Men BY LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
Little Women BY LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
Macbeth BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Madame Bovary BY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Mansfield Park BY JANE AUSTEN
Meditations BY MARCUS AURELIUS
Middlemarch BY GEORGE ELIOT
Moby Dick BY HERMAN MELVILLE
Moll Flanders BY DANIEL DEFOE
My Ántonia BY WILLA CATHER
Nicomachean Ethics BY ARISTOTLE
North and South BY ELIZABETH GASKELL
Northanger Abbey BY JANE AUSTEN
Notes from the Underground BY FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
Oliver Twist BY CHARLES DICKENS
On Liberty BY JOHN STUART MILL
On War BY CARL VON CLAUSEWITZ
Orthodoxy BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON
Paradise Lost BY JOHN MILTON
Persuasion BY JANE AUSTEN
Plato: Five Dialogues BY PLATO
Plutarch’s Lives BY PLUTARCH
Politics BY ARISTOTLE
Pollyanna BY ELEANOR H. PORTER
Pride & Prejudice BY JANE AUSTEN
Raggedy Ann Stories BY JOHNNY GRUELLE
Robinson Crusoe BY DANIEL DEFOE
Second Treatise Of Government BY JOHN LOCKE
Self-Reliance, Nature, and Other Essays BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Sense & Sensibility BY JANE AUSTEN
Sons and Lovers BY D. H. LAWRENCE
Swann’s Way, In Search of Lost Time BY MARCEL PROUST
Tarzan of the Apes BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
Tess of the d’Urbervilles BY THOMAS HARDY
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn BY MARK TWAIN
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer BY MARK TWAIN
The Age of Innocence BY EDITH WHARTON
The Art of War BY SUN TZU
The Awakening BY KATE CHOPIN
The Beautiful and the Damned BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
The Brothers Karamazov BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
The Call of the Wild BY JACK LONDON
The Chessmen of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
The Communist Manifesto BY KARL MARX & FRIEDRICH ENGELS
The Corpus Hermeticum BY HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
The Count of Monte Cristo BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS
The Divine Comedy - Inferno BY DANTE
The Divine Comedy - Purgatorio BY DANTE
The Divine Comedy - Paradiso BY DANTE
The Everlasting Man BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON
The First Men in the Moon BY H. G. WELLS
The Gods of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
The Histories BY HERODOTUS
The History of the Peloponnesian War BY THUCYDIDES
The Hound of the Baskervilles BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame BY VICTOR HUGO
The Idiot BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
The Iliad BY HOMER
The Importance of Being Earnest BY OSCAR WILDE
The Innocents Abroad BY MARK TWAIN
The Invisible Man BY H. G. WELLS
The Island of Doctor Moreau BY H. G. WELLS
The Jungle BY UPTON SINCLAIR
The Jungle Book BY RUDYARD KIPLING
The Kama Sutra BY VāTSYāYANA
The Kybalion BY THREE INITIATES
The Last of the Mohicans BY JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow BY WASHINGTON IRVING
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy BY LAURENCE STERNE
The Lost World BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Man Who Was Thursday BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON
The Master Mind of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
The Mayor of Casterbridge BY THOMAS HARDY
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood BY HOWARD PYLE
The Metamorphosis BY FRANZ KAFKA
The Mill on the Floss BY GEORGE ELIOT
The Murder on the Links BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
The Mysterious Affair at Styles BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
The Nature of Things BY TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS
The Odyssey BY HOMER
The Old Curiosity Shop BY CHARLES DICKENS
The Origin of Species BY CHARLES DARWIN
The Picture of Dorian Gray BY OSCAR WILDE
The Pilgrim’s Progress BY JOHN BUNYAN
The Portrait of a Lady BY HENRY JAMES
The Prince BY NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
The Prince and the Pauper BY MARK TWAIN
The Problems of Philosophy BY BERTRAND RUSSELL
The Prophet BY KAHLIL GIBRAN
The Republic BY PLATO
The Return of the Native BY THOMAS HARDY
The Scarlet Letter BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
The Science of Getting Rich BY WALLACE D. WATTLES
The Secret Garden BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
The Sign of the Four BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Souls of Black Folk BY W. E. B. DU BOIS
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The Swiss Family Robinson BY JOHANN DAVID WYSS
The Tale of Peter Rabbit BY BEATRIX POTTER
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall BY ANNE BRONTË
The Three Musketeers BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS
The Time Machine BY H. G. WELLS
The Valley of Fear BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The War of the Worlds BY H. G. WELLS
The Warlord of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
The Wealth of Nations BY ADAM SMITH
The Wind in the Willows BY KENNETH GRAHAME
The Wizard of Oz BY L. FRANK BAUM
The Woman in White BY WILKIE COLLINS
This Side of Paradise BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Through the Looking-Glass BY LEWIS CARROLL
Thuvia, Maid of Mars BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
Tom Jones BY HENRY FIELDING
Treasure Island BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
Twelve Years a Slave BY SOLOMON NORTHUP
Ulysses BY JAMES JOYCE
Uncle Tom’s Cabin BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
Utilitarianism BY JOHN STUART MILL
Vanity Fair BY WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
Villette BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Walden BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU
War and Peace BY LEO TOLSTOY
What’s Wrong with the World BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON
White Fang BY JACK LONDON
Wuthering Heights BY EMILY BRONTË
CHAPTER ONE
Laying Plans2
1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. These are:
(1) The Moral Law;3
(2) Heaven;
(3) Earth;
(4) The Commander;
(5) Method and discipline.
5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.4
7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.5
8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.6
9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
10. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.
12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise: –
13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?
(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?7
(5) Which army is stronger?8
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?9
(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?10
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.
15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: – let such a one be dismissed!11
16. While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.
17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.12
18. All warfare is based on deception.13
19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.14
21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.15
23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.16
24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.17
CHAPTER TWO
Waging War18
1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers,19 with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li,20 the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.
4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.21
6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.22
7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.23
9. Bring war material24 with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.
10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.25
11. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people’s substance to be drained away.26
12. When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.
13,14. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated;27 while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.
15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own, and likewise a single picul28 of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one’s own store.
16. Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.29
17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.30
18. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength.
19. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people’s fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.
CHAPTER THREE
Attack by Stratagem
1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.31
2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.32
3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk33 the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces;34 the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field;35 and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
4. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided.36 The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months;37 and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.38
5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants,39 with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.40
6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.41
7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.42 This is the method of attacking by stratagem.
8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him;43 if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two.44
9. If equally matched, we can offer battle;45 if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy;46 if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
10. Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.
11. Now the general is the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the State will be weak.47
12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army: –
13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army.48
14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.49
15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination,50 through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.51
16. But when the army is restless and distrustful, trouble is sure to come from the other feudal princes. This is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging victory away.
17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.52
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.53
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.54
18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.55 If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.56
CHAPTER FOUR
Tactical Dispositions57
1. Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
2. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.58
3. Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat,59 but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.
4. Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.
5. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.60
6. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.
7. The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth;61 he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.62 Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete.
8. To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.63
9. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight and conquer and the whole Empire says, “Well done!”64
10. To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;65 to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.66
11. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.67
12. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage.68
13. He wins his battles by making no mistakes.69 Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.
14. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.70
15. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.71
16. The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.
17. In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, Estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory.
18. Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; Balancing of chances to Calculation; and Victory to Balancing of chances.72
19. A victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as a pound’s weight placed in the scale against a single grain.73
20. The onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep.
CHAPTER FIVE
Energy
1. Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.74
2. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.
3. To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy’s attack and remain unshaken – this is effected by maneuvers direct and indirect.75
4. That the impact of your army may be like a grindstone dashed against an egg – this is effected by the science of weak points and strong.
5. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.76
6. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.77
7. There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.
8. There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.
9. There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.
10. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.
11. The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle – you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?
12. The onset of troops is like the rush of a torrent which will even roll stones along in its course.
13. The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.78
14. Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.79
15. Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.80
16. Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat.81
17. Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline, simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.82
18. Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy;83 masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.84
19. Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act.85 He sacrifices something, that the enemy may snatch at it.
20. By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.86
21. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.87 Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy.
22. When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become as it were like unto rolling logs or stones. For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped, to go rolling down.88
23. Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height. So much on the subject of energy.89
CHAPTER SIX
Weak Points and Strong90
1. Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
2. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.91
3. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.92
4. If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move.
5. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
6. An army may march great distances without distress, if it marches through country where the enemy is not.93
7. You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.94 You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.95
8. Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.96
9. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible;97 and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.
10.