Chapter 1: Laying Plans
From Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910).
The opening chapter argues that victory is decided before battle. Sun Tzu lays out the five fundamentals a commander must calculate — the Way, weather, terrain, command, and discipline — and insists on knowing yourself and the enemy before committing.
Key principles
- Calculate before you commit: weigh the five factors (purpose, climate, ground, leadership, discipline).
- Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred engagements.
- The skilful leader wins first, then fights; the loser fights first, then hopes to win.
- Deception begins in planning: disguise your dispositions so the enemy cannot read them.
Quotations from this chapter
Drawn from our sourced lesson database — each links to its permanent page with the full interpretation.
Modern applications
- Before a major decision, write down the factors in your favor and against you — then act on the gap.
- In a negotiation, map the other side’s incentives as carefully as your own before the meeting.
Related strategy topics
Frequently asked questions
What are the five factors in Chapter 1 of The Art of War?
Sun Tzu names the Way (shared purpose), weather (season and climate), ground (terrain and distance), the commander (leadership), and discipline (organization and logistics). He treats them as the basis for estimating which side will win.
Did Sun Tzu really say “know yourself and know your enemy”?
Yes — it is the closing line of Chapter 1 in the Giles translation: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” It is genuine, and often misattributed to later chapters by other sites.