Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become, as it were, like rolling logs or stones... The energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height.

So there are five ways of knowing who will win. Those who know when to fight and when not to fight are victorious. Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious. Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious.

Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.

As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.

Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.