The Master of All Strategy. He taught that the highest form of warfare is to subdue the enemy without fighting at all.
Legacy
The most influential military treatise in human history.
Doctrine
Military tactics are like unto water; avoid the strong, strike the weak.
Method
All warfare is based on deception.
Sun Tzu did not view war as a glorious clash of heroes, but as a grave matter of state, a province of life and death. His approach was calculated, rational, and deeply psychological.
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
He emphasized the importance of intelligence (spies), calculation (temple councils), and diplomacy. To Sun Tzu, the battle was won or lost before the armies even met.
War is a matter of vital importance to the State.
There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence.
What enables the wise sovereign to strike and conquer is foreknowledge.