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A Standard Benchmark
Gagliardi's Translation
Sawyer's Translation
"Clavell's" Translation
Griffith's Translation
Ames' Translation
Cleary's Translation
Kaufman's Translation
The
Denma Translation
Gagliardi's Translation
Full disclosure: This is
the official Science of Strategy
Institute version, written by our founder. The goal of our version is to give readers a
better idea of what Sun Tzu wrote. In this sample, as in the entire book, we try to
give the same weight to each phrase in the English as it has in the Chinese. We also
try to translate the phrases as simply and directly as possible. We let the reader
make his or her own assumptions about what Sun Tzu meant in terms of deeper meaning.
We do not create any false paragraphs or groupings of
sentences. Instead we show each phrase as a line, as in a poem, and separate the block
from the other blocks with a space as Sun Tzu did, making it a stanza—again as in
English poetry.
Even in our stated goal of giving the
reader
insight into the original Chinese, we fall far short of capturing all the meanings in the
original. The problem is that we offer only one-word English translations for each
character. In reality, Chinese characters have an array of meanings that all play
into interpreting the text. We originally tried to show all the different meanings in a
character, but the character translation became unreadable. Instead, we tried to
pick the meaning that fit best into the most common way that the line was
translated. In cases where there are disagreements, we can only offer our humble
opinion of what the best translation would be given the context and everything else Sun
Tzu said.
Go to
Strategy-Shop.com to see more on this version.
This is the last stanza of Chapter
7, Armed Conflict.
The Chinese Text |
Gagliardi's
Translation |
 Without
 invitation
 right
correct ’s
 banner, |
Do not entice the enemy when their
ranks are orderly. |
 Do not
 attack
 hall
hall
of
 formation, |
You must not attack when their
formations are solid. |
 Here
 govern
 transform
 one
 also; |
This is how you master adaptation. |
 Make
 use
 war’s
 method, |
You must follow these military rules. |
 High
 mound
do not
 face, |
Do not take a position facing high
ground. |
 Back
 walls
do not
 oppose, |
Do not oppose those with their backs to
the wall. |
 Pretend
 flee
do not
 follow, |
Do not follow those who
pretend to
flee. |
 Sharp
 soldiers
do not
 attack, |
Do not attack the enemy's strongest
men. |
 Bait
war
do not
 feed, |
Do not swallow the enemy's bait. |
 Returning home
 legion
do not
 block, |
Do not block an army that is headed
home. |
 Encircling
troops
 must
 watch-tower, |
Leave an escape route for a surrounded
army. |
 Poor
 pillage
do not
 force, | Do not
press a desperate foe. |
Here
use
war’s
method
also. |
This is
the art of war. |
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