The real story

This symmetrical aphorism is a modern distillation rather than a direct translation of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." The actual text (Chapter 1, "Laying Plans") reads: "when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near." Sun Tzu also writes "Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant." The polished, antithetical wording that circulates in business culture condenses these passages into a memorable slogan, but it is a translator's or popularizer's paraphrase rather than a quotable line from the text itself. The underlying strategic idea is genuinely Sun Tzu's; the exact phrasing as commonly shared is not.