Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

When I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways.

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: "Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will." Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.

A wise general makes a point of foraging of the enemy.

If I am able to determine the enemy's dispositions while at the same time I conceal my own, then I can concentrate and he must divide.