Rewards for good service should not be deferred a single day.

When your opponent gives you an opening, be swift as a hare.

The essential factor of military success is speed, that is taking advantage of others' unpreparedness or lack of foresight, their failure to catch up, going by routes they do not expect, attacking where they are not on guard. This you cannot accomplish with hesitation.

Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports.

When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him

So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.