Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The Art of War - Book Review

Wow!

Only 13 chapters each roughly between 2-4 pages, but the density of wisdom packed in each line is phenomenal. Sun Tzu would have been the undisputable grandmaster in Chess for ages, because of his extreme farsightedness, only what he dealt was not pieces on the board but real men and women in flesh and blood. No wonder these strategies were used by some of the great personalities and successful leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte to the founders of Oracle and Salesforce. The knowledge here is that War should not be seen as a means to victory or annexure, but something that is to be taken as the very last resort.

The following are my three favorite quotes from the book.

"Solving large, difficult problems may earn you a reputation for skillful negotiation, but Sun Tzu asserts that this supposed achievement is actually a form of failure, and having true wisdom means preventing difficult problems from arising in the first place."

"Sun Tzu also believed that bravery and greatness involve shunning what other people think of you, both praise and criticism and doing what you believe is the right thing."

"Those angry will be happy again, and those wrathful will be cheerful again, but a destroyed nation cannot exist again, the dead cannot be brought back to life."

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