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

Without harmony in the State, no military expedition can be undertaken; without harmony in the army, no battle array can be formed.

Wait by the river long enough and the body of your enemy will float by you.

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

The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy.

When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce. If the enemy's troops march up angrily and remain facing ours for a long time without either joining battle or removing demands, the situation is one that requires great vigilance and circumspection. To begin by bluster, but afterward to take fright at the enemy's numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.

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