In the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.

Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be total.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle

Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

The supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. The supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without having to fight them.