20th December 2020 | Daily Brief

This quote discusses about people who mainly know themselves. While the quote primarily refers to someone in war, in a wider sense it actually applies to real life.
The fundamental thing that the quote indicates can be seen as that people skilled at combat are taught to stay calm and thinking with a clear mind. Hence they don’t become angered easily. Those that are skilled at winning have never lost therefore they have no fear of losing. The wise have already thought of the possible outcomes and the best ways for approach something and the ignorant fight when they haven’t thought it though. 

The quote lies on similar lines of teachings by Sun Tzu which tells that a person who prepares, drills and contemplates every possible outcome and prepares the necessary contingencies and engages the enemy under his own terms will emerge victorious.  

However if we see it from individual point of view, it also indicates that there is anger and fear that lies within us too. When we fight to defeat things inside us but attack things only external to us, we can never win, since our true enemy lies inside. The perfect example of this would be Mahatma Gandhi who practised self-control his whole life, preached what he believed to be true only in practise after trying himself and built a mass movement only on the basis of those learning which made him seen as someone belonging to masses itself among the common man.

The wise person understands who the true enemy is (ourselves) and defeats them from within, thereby winning even if they eventually lose the external fight like Mahavira or Buddha who despite living the lives full of pain, attained nirvana after fighting and winning over internal battles.

Thus, in order to run a life of content and happiness, it is necessary that we live a life full of thoughts which energize the world and self rather than enervating the self leading to a fall sooner or later.