And regulation entails organizational effectiveness, a chain of command, and a structure for logistical support.
Factors in the art of warfare are: First, calculations; second, quantities; third, logistics; fourth, the balance of power; and fifth, the possibility of victory is based on the balance of power.
When the leader is morally weak and his discipline not strict, when his instructions and guidance are not enlightened, when there are no consistent rules, neighboring rulers will take advantage of this.
First learn to become invincible, then wait for your enemy’s moment of vulnerability.
War is a matter of vital importance to the state; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.
Invincibility depends on one’s self; the enemy’s vulnerability on him.
O divine art of subtlety and secrecy!
Victory is the main object in war.
As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.
Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.
Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unaware.
When campaigning, be swift as the wind; in leisurely march, majestic as the forest; in raiding and plundering, like fire; in standing, firm as the mountains. As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt.
What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
Should one ask: ‘how do I cope with a well-ordered enemy host about to attack me?’ I reply: seize something he cherishes and he will conform to your desires.
One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.
Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuver. What is difficult about maneuver is to make the devious route the most direct and to turn misfortune to advantage.
Generally in war the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this.
The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without having to fight them.
The military has no constant form, just as water has no constant shape – adapt as you face the enemy, without letting them know beforehand what you are going to do.
These are the six ways of courting defeat – neglect to estimate the enemy’s strength; want of authority; defective training; unjustifiable anger; nonobservance of discipline; failure to use picked men...