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[True excellence being, as Tu Mu says: "To plan secretly, to move

surreptitiously, to foil the enemy's intentions and balk his

schemes, so that at last the day may be won without shedding a

drop of blood." Sun Tzŭ reserves his approbation for things that

"the world's coarse thumb And finger fail to plumb."

10. To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;

["Autumn hair" is explained as the fur of a hare, which is finest

in autumn, when it begins to grow afresh. The phrase is a very

common one in Chinese writers.]

to see sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise

of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.

[Ho Shih gives as real instances of strength, sharp sight and

quick hearing: Wu Huo, who could lift a tripod weighing 250

stone; Li Chu, who at a distance of a hundred paces could see

objects no bigger than a mustard seed; and Shih K'uang, a blind

musician who could hear the footsteps of a mosquito.]