One who speaks deferentially but increases his preparations will advance. One who speaks belligerently and advances hastily will retreat.

If I wish to engage, then the enemy, for all his high ramparts and deep moat, cannot avoid engagement; I attack that which he is obliged to rescue.

It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.

Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.

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

Factors in the art of warfare are: First, calculations; second, quantities; third, logistics; fourth, the balance of power; and fifth, the possibility of victory is based on the balance of power.

Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans, the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field, and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.