With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view.
If you are not progressing along the true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be pondered well.
Imitation is the surest form of flattery and failure. I am not interested with your talk about my ideas. I am more interested in your applying them to your life. If you do not, then you are essentially not in accord with your own mind.
If there is a Way involving the spirit of not being defeated, to help oneself and gain honour, it is the Way of Strategy.
There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.
To cut and slash are two different things. Cutting, whatever form of cutting it is, is decisive, with a resolute spirit. Slashing is nothing more than touching the enemy.
Become acquainted with every art.
It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.
Fourthly, the way of the artisan. The way of the carpenter is to become proficient in the use of his tools, first to lay his plans with true measure and then perform his work according to plan. Thus he passes through life.
I dreamt of worldly success once.
If you want to learn the craft of war, ponder over this book. The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice constantly.
The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you can take the initiative, the halberd is defensive.
When the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without the chance of letting go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies collapse, they may recover.
When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.
There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas.
The warrior is different in that studying the Way of strategy is based on overcoming men.
By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist.
No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible.
When you attack the enemy, your spirit must go to the extent of pulling the stakes out of a wall and using them as spears and halberds.
Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the ways of different arts one by one.