Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain

All wars are won or lost before they are ever fought.

You cannot know if you will be successful or not. You can only prepare for battle and it must be done with all of your heart and with all of your consciousness. In that manner, you will have an edge.

A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.

Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow...they have form but are formless. They are skilled in both planning and adapting and need not fear the result of a thousand battles: for they win in advance, defeating those that have already lost.

In the tumult and uproar, the battle seems chaotic, but there is no disorder, the troops appear to be milling about in circles but cannot be defeated.