The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.

In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack.. the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.

Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.

Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.

These are the six ways of courting defeat - neglect to estimate the enemy's strength; want of authority; defective training; unjustifiable anger; nonobservance of discipline; failure to use picked men.