To capture the enemy's entire army is better than to destroy it; to take intact a regiment, a company, or a squad is better than to destroy them. For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the supreme of excellence. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.

One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.

Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.

To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.

Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.

Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.