In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

The best general is the one who never fights.

If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

It is the business of a general to be serene and inscrutable, impartial and self-controlled.

The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.