All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.
Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack.
If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.
When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or not he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.
Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
The expert in battle seeks his victory from strategic advantage and does not demand it from his men.
To capture the enemy’s entire army is better than to destroy it; to take intact a regiment, a company, or a squad is better than to destroy them. For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the supreme of excellence. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.
The nature of war is constant change.
He who wishes to fight must first count the cost.