Monday, January 14, 2019

Rhetorical devices from "The Art of War" book

Rhetorical devices always add color to the speech. However, it is very hard to come up with the apt rhetorical devices (simile, metaphor etc.,) for conveying a thought. Recently, I read the book "The Art of War" and it had some interesting rhetorics. I've listed a few of them below:

  1. If you looked at the stars from inside a well, no more than a few stars would be visible to you. If you look from a hilltop, then you can see when they first appear and when they fade away. It's not that they're any brighter - but your setting changes what you see. Subjectivity is the inside of the well, impartiality is the top of the hill. When intelligence rides on subjectivity, it knows little; when it rides on impartiality, it knows a lot. 
  2. A rigid building may be solid, but under the stress of an earthquake, it may cause it to crumble. Whereas, a tree standing next to it can bend and flex to absorb the shock and therefore remains intact. 
  3. Those skilled in warfare move the enemy and are not moved by the enemy. 
  4. A victorious army is like a ton against an ounce. A defeated army is like an ounce against a ton. 
  5. A victorious army is like pent up waters released bursting through deep gorge.
  6. Those skilled in warfare manoeuvres are as endless as the heavens and earth, as inexhaustible as the rivers and the seas. Like the sun and the moon, they set and rise again. 
  7. An army that acts with full force is like a stone thrown at an egg
  8. An army's formation should be like water - adapts to the ground when flowing.
  9. An army advances like the wind, marches like the forest and invades like fire.
  10. During conflicts, balance can be a hinderance; Inequality is what helps put a quick end to the disorder. This is analogous to a sick person relying on medicine to get well. If the medicine and pathogens are of equal strength, what good would taking the medicine be?
(Also read: 10 Servant Leadership lessons from "The Art of War" Book)

No comments:

Post a Comment