The 33 Strategies of War

by Robert Greene

Making offense our rule, we create enemies and risk acting rashly and losing control of our own behavior, but constant defensiveness backs us into a corner, becomes a bad habit. In either case we are predictable.

the Napoleonic way. At times you seem vulnerable and defensive, getting your opponents to disregard you as a threat, to lower their guard. When the moment is right and you sense an opening, you switch to the attack.

By playing weak you can seduce your aggressive enemies to come at you full throttle.

overthrow the enemy solely by his own strength—to vanquish him solely by his own efforts?”

However desperate the situation and circumstances, don’t despair. When there is everything to fear, be unafraid. When surrounded by dangers, fear none of them. When without resources, depend on resourcefulness. When surprised, take the enemy itself by surprise. —Sun-tzu, The Art of War (fourth century B.C.) JUJITSU

(nothing is more infuriating than engaging with someone and getting no response) and ending up shrill and irrational,

In jujitsu a fighter baits opponents by staying calm and patient, getting them to make the first aggressive move.

Aggression is deceptive: it inherently hides weakness.

Let events come to you, saving valuable time and energy for those brief moments when you blaze with the counterattack.

The soundest strategy in war is to postpone operations until the moral disintegration of the enemy renders the delivery of the mortal blow both possible and easy. —Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)

the aggressor went on the attack, he had no more surprises in store—the defender could clearly see his strategy and take protective action. Second, if the defender could somehow turn back this initial attack, the aggressor would be left in a weak position; his army was disorganized and exhausted. (It requires more energy to take land than to hold it.) If the defenders could take advantage of this weakness to deliver a counterblow, they could often force the aggressor to retreat.

We are inherently impatient creatures.

A person who can lie back and wait for the right moment to take action will almost always have an advantage over those who give in to their natural impatience.

The first step in mastering the counterattack is to master yourself, and particularly the tendency to grow emotional in conflict.

Once you learn patience, your options suddenly expand. Instead of wearing yourself out in little wars, you can save your energy for the right moment, take advantage of other people’s mistakes, and think clearly in difficult situations.

The key to the successful counterattack is staying calm while your opponent gets frustrated and irritable.

Shinkage: the swordsman would begin the fight by mirroring his opponent’s every move, copying his every footstep, every blink, every gesture, every twitch. This would drive the enemy crazy, for he would be unable to read the Shinkage samurai’s moves or get any sense of what he was up to. At some point he would lose patience and strike out, lowering his guard. The Shinkage samurai would inevitably parry this attack and follow up with a fatal counterblow.

Mirroring people—giving back to them just what they give you—is a powerful method of counterattack. In daily life, mirroring and passivity can charm people, flattering them into lowering their defenses and opening themselves to attack. It can also irritate and discomfit them. Their thoughts become yours; you are feeding off them like a vampire, your passive front disguising the control you are exercising over their minds.

“the barbarian”—the man or woman who is especially aggressive by nature. Do not be intimidated by these types; they are in fact weak and are easily swayed and deceived. The trick is to goad them by playing weak or stupid while dangling in front of them the prospect of easy gains.

You, too, should look for the emotion that your enemies are least able to manage, then bring it to the surface.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do

Whenever you find yourself on the defensive and in trouble, the greatest danger is the impulse to overreact.

A key principle of counterattack is never to see a situation as hopeless. No matter how strong your enemies seem, they have vulnerabilities you can prey upon and use to develop a counterattack.

Whatever his strength might be, it is actually a potential weakness, simply because he relies on it: neutralize it and he is vulnerable.

Authority: The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by a rapid and audacious attack. —Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)

If the enemy is too smart to lose patience and attack you, or if you have too much to lose by waiting, go on the offensive. It is also usually best to vary your methods, always having more than one strategy to draw on.

The best way to fight off aggressors is to keep them from attacking you in the first place. To accomplish this you must create the impression of being more powerful than you are. Build up a reputation: You’re a little crazy. Fighting you is not worth it. You take your enemies with you when you lose. Create this reputation and make it credible with a few impressive—impressively violent—acts. Uncertainty is sometimes better than overt threat: if your opponents are never sure what messing with you will cost, they will not want to find out. Play on people’s natural fears and anxieties to make them think twice.

reverse intimidation.

First, people are more likely to attack you if they see you as weak or vulnerable. Second, they cannot know for sure that you’re weak; they depend on the signs you give out, through your behavior both present and past. Third, they are after easy victories, quick and bloodless. That is why they prey on the vulnerable and weak.

This is generally done by taking some visible action that will confuse aggressors and make them think they have misread you: you may indeed be vulnerable, but they are not sure.

Action has much more credibility than mere threatening or fiery words;

Appeasing people can be as debilitating as fighting them; deterring them, scaring them out of attacking you or getting in your way, will save you valuable energy and resources.

To deter aggressors you must become adept at deception, manipulating appearances and their perceptions of you—valuable skills that can be applied to all aspects of daily warfare.

Surprise with a bold maneuver.

First, they will tend to think your move is backed up by something real—they will not imagine you could be foolish enough to do something audacious just for effect. Second, they will start to see strengths and threats in you that they had not imagined.

Reverse the threat.

If your enemies see you as someone to be pushed around, turn the tables with a sudden move, however small, designed to scare them.

Threaten something they value. Hit them where you sense they may be vulnerabl...

Seem unpredictable and irrational.

Crazy opponents are terrifying—no one likes fighting people who are unpredictable and have nothing to lose.

Play on people’s natural paranoia.

you take action that is indirect and designed to ...

Making your enemies think they have found out you are plotting a countermove is more effective than telling them so yourself;

Establish a frightening reputation.

you must build your reputation carefully, allowing no inconsistencies.

he may be able to win battles, but you will make him pay for each victory.

Authority: When opponents are unwilling to fight with you, it is because they think it is contrary to their interests, or because you have misled them into thinking so.

In some situations, though, you can more safely achieve the same thing by doing the opposite: play dumb and unassuming.

This strategy needs patience, though, and is not without risk: you are deliberately making yourself the lamb among the wolves.

Retreat in the face of a strong enemy is a sign not of weakness but of strength. By resisting the temptation to respond to an aggressor, you buy yourself valuable time—time to recover, to think, to gain perspective. Let your enemies advance; time is more important than space. By refusing to fight, you infuriate them and feed their arrogance. They will soon overextend themselves and start making mistakes. Time will reveal them as rash and you as wise. Sometimes you can accomplish most by doing nothing.