An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.

Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat.

In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.

Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.

The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.

If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.

If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.