Original artwork, not a still
To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The passage distinguishes winning battles from the highest kind of success. Its preferred achievement is overcoming resistance without fighting at all. That reversal makes the absence of combat a sign of excellence, shifting attention from the number of victories to how opposition is resolved.
Context reviewed
