The 33 Strategies of War

by Robert Greene

The Romans were dazzled by Hannibal’s strategic genius. They came to so fear him that the only strategies they could use against him were delay and avoidance. Scipio Africanus simply saw differently. At every turn he looked not at the enemy army, nor even at its leader, but at the pillar of support on which it stood—its critical vulnerability. He understood that military power was located not in the army itself but in its foundations, the things that supported it and made it possible: money, supplies, public goodwill, allies. He found those pillars and bit by bit knocked them down.

When others use fear and avoidance, look for opportunity to undermine sources of power

When you look at your rivals, do not be distracted by their punch. To engage in any exchange of punches, in life or in war, is the height of stupidity and waste. Power depends on balance and support; so look at what is holding your enemy up, and remember that what holds him up can also make him fall.

People’s perceptions are filtered through their emotions; they tend to interpret the world according to what they want to see.

In war-time, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1874–1965

In the end, like an Escher painting, you must blend truth and illusion to the point where they become indistinguishable, and your false mirror is taken for reality.

What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. —Julius Caesar