All warfare is based on deception.
Yes. It is Lionel Giles's 1910 translation of The Art of War, chapter I, section 18.
Tool · Quote verifier · 验证
Did Sun Tzu really say that?
Search quotes we have already checked against the cited text — 孙子兵法, the Analects, the Tao Te Ching — and stamped verified, paraphrase, or fake. If a line is not in the ledger, we have not published a verdict.
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The verdict ledger
Every quote Icons has published a verdict for. Nothing here is generated to fit your search.
No match in the ledger. We do not invent a verdict for a line we have not checked.
Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
Not quite. Sun Tzu says to feign incapacity, inactivity and distance, not the pair weak and strong.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
No. It is not in The Art of War, and the line is best known from The Godfather Part II (1974).
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will win a hundred battles.
Not quite. The text promises no danger across a hundred battles, not a hundred victories.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
Yes. It is an accurate modern translation of The Art of War, III.2. Giles’s 1910 wording is different.
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.
Yes. The sentence is Lionel Giles's 1910 wording for The Art of War, VII.19, in his numbering.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
Yes. It is a sound modern translation of The Art of War, IV.15, and it is not Giles's 1910 sentence.
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
No. It is not in The Art of War, and the origin of the English sentence is untraced.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
No. It is not in the Chinese text or in any printed translation, and the line is modern.
A leader leads by example, not by force.
Not quite. The nearest lines are about enforcing orders, not about example instead of force.
If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.
No. It is not in The Art of War or the Analects, and no Chinese source line has been identified.
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
No. It is not in The Art of War, and the Napoleon credit is only an unverified attribution.
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
No. The earliest known printing is 1982, and Confucius was not attached to the line until 1985.
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
No. It is not in the Tao Te Ching, and the closest early form is Mabel Collins in 1885.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
No. The earliest fishing version is an English novel of 1885, not a Chinese proverb and not Laozi.
May you live in interesting times.
No. An authentic Chinese saying of this form has not been found, and the English trail starts in 1936.
The Chinese word for crisis is made of 'danger' and 'opportunity'.
No. In 危机 the second character means a crucial point, not opportunity.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Yes. Laozi says a journey of a thousand li starts beneath your feet, and miles is the later English.
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Not quite. Analects 2.17 tells you to admit what you do not know, not to measure ignorance.
Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best.
No. Sun Tzu does not say it; the line is about Lord Tan, in the Book of Southern Qi, chapter 26.
Swift as the wind, quiet as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as the mountain.
Yes. The four images are Sun Tzu's, and Takeda Shingen's banner only shortened them.
Method · 考据
How a quote earns a seal.
Four steps, every time. A line that cannot be traced to a passage does not get a seal, and we do not publish it.
01
Find the passage
Search the classical text, chapter by chapter, for the idea — not only the English words.
02
Compare translations
Check the wording against a public-domain translation: Lionel Giles, 1910, for The Art of War; James Legge for the Analects and the Tao Te Ching.
03
Give a verdict
Verified, paraphrase, or fake — or unclear, when the text itself is disputed.
04
Seal it
The editor signs off. The seal records the verdict, the confidence, and the date.
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VerifiedExact passage, cited
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ParaphraseReal idea, reworded
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FakeNot in the source
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UnclearText or reading disputed
Questions
Did Sun Tzu say “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”?
No. The line is not in The Art of War, in Chinese or in Lionel Giles’s 1910 translation. It is best known from the 1974 film The Godfather Part II. The nearest real passage is III.18, on knowing the enemy and knowing yourself.
How do you tell if a Sun Tzu quote is real?
Search the ledger. Each entry was checked against the cited edition, given a verdict, and sealed by the editor. If a line is not listed, Icons has not published a verdict for it.
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