Sun Tzu Quotes

In war there are none but particular cases; everything has there an individual nature; nothing ever repeats itself. In the first place, the data of a military problem are but seldom certain; they are never final . Everything is in a constant state of change and reshaping.

Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.

Most things don't stay the way they are for very long. I take nothing for granted and try to be ready for the change that's soon to come.

If there's one thing that's certain in business, it's uncertainty.

I like change. I've never really had much consistency in my life, you know, from everyday work to my living situation to whether or not I'm going to be in L.A. The one constant thing in my life is my friends and family, which is all I need.

I have had a pretty hardcore crash course on living out of a suitcase. Some people take consistency in their lives for granted. When you have little to none, you discover it's kind of a nice thing.

I spent 26 years in the business without ever knowing what I was doing a month from now.

As much as I long for a sort of security and consistency sometimes, I do enjoy sort of being busted around. I really don't know what's happening sometimes next week, let alone this year.

I always tell people that my life is in pencil; I have to keep an eraser in my hand because I could always get a call that could change everything.

The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill.

This plan is subject to change without notice as all plans are.

These are the instructions you are getting today. It is only fair to tell you, however, that they may be changed tomorrow. And ten days later they may be changed back to the instructions you are getting now.

What is certain about the future is that even the best efforts to predict the conditions of future war will prove erroneous. What is important, however, is to not be so far off the mark that visions of the future run counter to the very nature of war and render American forces unable to adapt to unforeseen challenges.

You can't get too comfortable and relax, because your world can flip overnight.

You can only have a short sight because things change a lot. You can't plan what the years will bring.

Nothing is rigid, and everything is movable.

I don't look further than next year because in our world, anything can happen.

I'm a guy that, when there's something rolling out there, the predetermined rotations might go right in the garbage can.

I believe things when it comes out 'cause I know how it is - things change all the time.

Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

It's been my habit of mind, over these years, to understand that every situation in which human beings are involved can be turned on its head. Everything someone assures me to be true might not be. Every pillar of belief the world rests on may or may not be about to explode. Most things don't stay the way they are very long. Knowing this, however, has not made me cynical. Cynical means believing that good isn't possible; and I know for a fact that good is. I simply take nothing for granted and try to be ready for the change that's soon to come.

War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. ... war is the realm of chance. No other human activity gives it greater scope; no other has such incessant and varied dealings with this intruder. Chance makes everything more uncertain and interferes with the whole course of events.

Nothing is written stone, child. Even if it were, the stones can be shattered

If you are terribly truthful, the ground will always move from under you, and you will have to shift with the constantly shifting truth.

The military has no constant form, just as water has no constant shape - adapt as you face the enemy, without letting them know beforehand what you are going to do.