No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

Without local guides, your enemy employs the land as a weapon against you.

Who can determine where one ends and the other begins?

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.

He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy; forceful execution of even a poor plan can often bring victory.

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.