Victory is the main object in war.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow.

Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.

Where the army is, prices are high; when prices rise the wealth of the people is exhausted.