Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.

One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.

Unless you enter the tiger's lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger's cub's.

If this is long delayed, weapons are blunted and morale depressed.

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

So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.

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