To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.

If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.

Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never peril.

Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.

You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain

Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former.