O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.

To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night.

Wait by the river long enough and the body of your enemy will float by you.

If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.

Unless you know the mountains and the forests, the defiles and impasses, the lay of the marshes and swamps, you cannot maneuver with an armed force. Unless you use local guides, you cannot get the advantages of the land.