Sun Tzu Quotes
What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.
Very few societies ever had the wealth accumulated so that they could afford prolonged military operations. In addition, long, prolonged conflicts erode morale, both civilian and military. The Afghanistan War that went on for over a decade caused both and put a great strain on the U. S. national budget.
Sun Tzu, c. 400 BC, Chinese writer of the Age of Warring States, The Art of War
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As an educational and military leader, he saw the importance of each in a nation’s welfare.
Not understanding this point has been the cause of much difficulty for military leaders from the war of 1812 through the Iraq war, the success or failure of the effort depended on a successful peace.
Lee was trying to negotiate a peace treaty as a part of his his potential surrender. However, Grant would not be drawn into that, Lee was NOT the government of the Confederacy, and Grant had served with him earlier in the Mexican War and knew he was not a fanatic on teh subject of slavery and race as most of the Southern leaders were. They werenthe ones who would have to be captured or driven to surrender. Grant could have gotten authoirioty as he was in almost real time contact with President Lincoln by telegraph. However, neither wanted to negotiate peace with Lee. Instead, Grant gave Lee and his men incredibly gracious termsof surrender which he and Lincoln hoped would casue the avarage Southern soldiers to feel better about surrender for although Lee's was the largest Confederate Army, there were still others out there that had to be dealt with,
Sun Tzu was a Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher who lived in the Eastern Zhou period of ancient China. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and East Asian philosophy and military thinking. His works focus much more on alternatives to battle, such as stratagem, delay, the use of spies and alternatives to war itself, the making and keeping of alliances, the uses of deceit, and a willingness to submit, at least temporarily, to more powerful foes. Sun Tzu is revered in Chinese and East Asian culture as a legendary historical and military figure. His birth name was Sun Wu and he was known outside of his family by his courtesy name Changqing. The name Sun Tzu by which he is best known in the Western World is an honorific which means "Master Sun".
