“In war, practise dissimulation, and you will succeed. Move only if there is a real advantage to be gained.”
Conceal intent and act only when the gain is real; motion without purpose wastes the force.
Chapter 7’s compact rule of engagement: in war, practise dissimulation, and you will succeed; move only if there is a real advantage to be gained. The two halves belong together — concealment makes your moves unreadable, and the discipline of moving only on real advantage keeps those rare moves meaningful. A hidden army that fidgets constantly is as legible as a loud one.
A fund takes twelve positions a quarter because activity feels like work, and its competitors read the filings like a diary — every thematic itch, every conviction half-formed. A rival trades four times a year, in silence, each move sized for the actual edge. When the quiet fund acts, the market notices precisely because it almost never does; the chatty fund’s positions stopped signaling anything years ago.
Dissimulation is the minor clause; the major one is the movement test. Hidden busy-ness fails the verse twice — it wastes the force and it teaches observers your patterns anyway. The instruction is an AND: unreadable AND purposeful. Neither alone is what Sun Tzu ordered.