And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.

An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands

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

One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.

Go into emptiness, strike voids, bypass what he defends hit him where he does not expect you.

Be the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances you are in peril.