Avoid What Is Strong

The skillful general avoids the enemy when their spirit is keen and attacks them when it is sluggish and they are homesick. This is the control of morale.

Every opponent has a rhythm. There is a time when their energy is high — morning, after a success, when they are fresh. And there is a time when their energy is low — evening, after a defeat, when they are tired. The strategist does not attack the peak. They wait for the trough. Patience is not passivity. It is the discipline of timing your action to the opponent's weakness.

Chapter 7, titled 'Maneuvering,' introduces the concept of zhi qi — controlling morale. Sun Tzu observes that armies have a natural energy cycle: keen in the morning, flagging by midday, homesick by evening. The strategist avoids the enemy at their keenest and attacks at their lowest. This principle extends beyond warfare to any competitive situation — negotiations, debates, market competition. The key is patience: the enemy's weakness will come if you wait for it. Chapter 7 describes avoiding an enemy's fresh spirit and engaging when fatigue and disorder have changed the conditions. It is a lesson in timing and morale within war, not permission to prey on vulnerable people. The modern translation should be especially cautious: choose a moment when a difficult conversation can be heard, pause when someone is highly agitated, and avoid escalating while another person is impaired or exhausted. Timing can reduce conflict; it should never be used to engineer weakness, humiliation, or dependence. The original image is about a tired army, not an invitation to wait until a person is psychologically or physically weak. Timing is ethically defensible when it lowers heat and improves understanding. It becomes exploitation when the goal is to remove another person's ability to choose. Keep that distinction explicit. A pause that preserves mutual agency is timing; a trap that removes agency is exploitation.