Fire is a tool of warfare with specific uses: burning the enemy's troops, burning his stores, burning his baggage trains, burning his arsenal, burning his supply lines. Each has a different application and requires different conditions — dry weather, the right wind direction, the right moment in the season.
Sun Tzu's caution is that fire is irreversible and should be used only where the effect is calculated. A general who attacks by fire shows talent; one who uses fire as decoration is reckless. Some weapons cannot be unfired.
The chapter ends with a warning against impulsive action more generally. No ruler should put troops in the field merely to gratify his spleen; no general should fight merely to vent resentment. A defeated kingdom cannot be restored, a fallen soldier cannot be brought back. The wise leader is cautious before action and slow to wrath.
This is the most-quoted passage of the book in modern leadership writing, because the lesson is universal: every irreversible action — a launch, a firing, a public statement — deserves the seriousness that fire deserves on a battlefield. Some moves cannot be unwon.
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