Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment - that which they cannot anticipate.

The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled.

Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost

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.

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