Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.

The true objective of war is peace.

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.

Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.

In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.