Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.

Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy... use the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.

The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.

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.

To maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.