If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.

Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow.

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Rewards for good service should not be deferred a single day.

Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain

When the enemy is relaxed, make them toil. When full, starve them. When settled, make them move.

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.