 All war is deception. |
| Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy. |
| To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. |
| The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. |
| There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited. |
| If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity. |
| The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. |
| The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man. |
| He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious. |
| If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril. |
| In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. |
| To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence. |
| All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. |
| Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared. |
| The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. |
| It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results. |
| It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used. |
| Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. |
| Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory. |
| Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory. |
