Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called entangling.

He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

Like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.

Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy.

Thus the skilful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willy-nilly, by the hand.

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.