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

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.

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

Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.

Someone unfamiliar with the mountains and forests cannot advance [the team]. One who does not employ local guides cannot gain the advantage.

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.