Sun Tzu

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Although Sun Tzu was not a close companion of Confucius, these two historical figures are believed to have coexisted around the same period in Chinese history. Like Laozi, Sun Tzu (also sometimes called Sunzi) is not known with certainty to be a real historical figure, but has one very important work attributed to him. Sun Tzu's famous work was The Art Of War, a book on military strategy that is sometimes described as a Taoist work.

Sun Tzu does not appear to have the same direction to Confucius as Lao Tzi did, and the two figures are not known to have met. Furthermore, Sun Tzu focused mainly on miliary strategy, having been a general in Wu province, while Confucius deliberately did not lecture at all on military strategy or war, claiming not to know anything about it. Below are two quotes attributed to Confucius on the subject of war:

To lead an uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.
~Confucius

When music and courtesy are better understood and appreciated, there will be no war.
~Confucius

As is evident from these quotes, Confucius had rather different opinions on war than Sun Tzu did. Lionel Giles points out complications with this argument in the forward he wrote to The Art Of War, however. He notes that many modern scholars take Confucius's declaration that he was "unversed in military matters" to mean that military matters were not worthy of study, and that he was a pacifist. However, Giles also cites other authors who point out that Confucius may have merely been saying that with military strategists like Sun Tzu, there was no need for a sage like himself to become an expert in warfare.

Below are a few interesting quotes from The Art Of War:

A leader leads by example not by force.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War


Sources

Forward to The Art Of War by Lionel Giles.

The Art Of War full online text.

Sun Tzu fron Sonshi, an online resource companion for The Art of War.