In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.

The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy

When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.

You cannot know if you will be successful or not. You can only prepare for battle and it must be done with all of your heart and with all of your consciousness. In that manner, you will have an edge.

Generally in war the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to this.

A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.