When strong, avoid them. If of high morale, depress them. Seem humble to fill them with conceit. If at ease, exhaust them. If united, separate them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.
The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.
Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
You have to believe in yourself.
If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things.
So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby, you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.
One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.
To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.
When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.
If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.
What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.
All is fair in love and war.
Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.
In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.