Benefits should be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.

Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are; and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.

Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered; and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.

Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.

States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them

Good order and discipline in any army are to be depended upon more than courage alone.

...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.