If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.

Therefore, to estimate the enemy situation and to calculate distances and the degree of difficulty of the terrain so as to control victory are virtues of the superior general.

There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.

The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.

So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.

Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat.