The Art of War

For dealing with bullies, I really recommend this book of Chinese military strategy from the 5th century BC. It's surprisingly fun to read, and the advice is golden. Make no mistake that dealing with bullies can be war. I think nice people always want to be kind and honest, but you can't deal with psychopaths and manipulators by being kind and honest. This book deals with strategies including deception.

Some good quotes. "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

"All war is based on deception. Hence appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective."

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Interesting!

Yep. I never thought of using deception to protect myself until I read this book. I would never do it with most people, but with ones who try to take advantage of me or treat me poorly, why not.

The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings and some others are quite good on the philosophies involved that you mention. Reading The Book of Five Rings it is easy to see the influences in much that Sun Tzu had on Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi was one of the greatest of the Bushi or Samurai in Japan. One of my favorite quotes by Musashi:

“Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet situations without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased.”.