Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.

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

What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.

Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.

To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skilful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good.

Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.

When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become as it were like unto rolling logs or stones. For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped to go rolling down.