As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.

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

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

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.

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.