Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.

Too frequent rewards indicate that the general is at the end of his resources; too frequent punishments that he is in acute distress.

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

The general must be the first in the toils and fatigues of the army. In the heat of summer he does not spread his parasol nor in the cold of winter don thick clothing. In dangerous places he must dismount and walk. He waits until the army's wells have been dug and only then drinks; until the army's food is cooked before he eats; until the army's fortifications have been completed, to shelter himself.

Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.

Thus the skilful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willy-nilly, by the hand.

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost