Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

So it is that good warriors take their stance on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat.

Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.

Of all rewards none [is] more liberal than those given to secret agents.

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.

If this is long delayed, weapons are blunted and morale depressed.

Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy.