One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

Know thy enemy and know thy self and you will win a hundred battles.

All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

There are only five notes in the musical scale, but their variations are so many that they cannot all be heard. There are only five basic colors, but their variations are so many that they cannot all be seen. There are only five basic flavors, but their variations are so many that they cannot all be tasted. There are only two kinds of charge in battle, the unorthodox surprise attack and the orthodox direct attack, but variations of the unorthodox and the orthodox are endless. The unorthodox and the orthodox give rise to each other, like a beginningless circle-who could exhaust them?

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.

All war is based on deception.