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

Winning isn't enough. The acme of all skill is to defeat your enemy before taking the field.

Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.

When one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.

The true objective of war is peace.

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.

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