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

Attack where he is unprepared; sally forth when he does not expect you.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, 1 but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganisation; (6) rout.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.

Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no trace; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is master of his enemy's fate.