Sun Tzu on winning without fighting
Describe what you are up against, or just name what is on your mind. You will get the exact passage from The Art of War that fits.
The line everyone half-remembers from Sun Tzu is that the highest skill is not winning every battle, it is winning without one. For a book about war, The Art of War is strikingly uninterested in fighting, and far more interested in making the fight unnecessary. Name what you are up against above to find the passage that fits.
The acme of skill
Sun Tzu ranks outcomes plainly: to win every battle is not the highest excellence; the highest excellence is breaking the other side's will to resist without fighting at all. The skilful leader, he says, takes what he wants without the siege, the casualties, the long campaign. Read it for any conflict you are dreading: the goal is the result, and the fight is just the most expensive way to reach it.
Knowing when not to fight
Among his essentials for victory, the first is knowing when to fight and when not to. The discipline is in the restraint: most people lose by engaging contests they did not need to enter. Choosing not to fight is itself a move, and often the strongest one available.
Avoid the strong, take the weak
When a clash cannot be avoided, his preference still bends away from brute confrontation: go around strength, press on weakness. Winning without fighting and winning by hitting the soft point are the same instinct, find the path that costs the least and still gets there.
Notable lines on winning without fighting
Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Therefore the skilful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
Bring it to Sun directly
The quote is the start. Tell Sun Tzu what is actually going on and get his read on it, in a real conversation.
Speak with Sun