In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.
Know thy self, know thy enemy.
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
No nation has ever benefited from a prolonged war.
It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him; not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible.
Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.