Order or disorder depends on organisation and direction; courage or cowardice on circumstances; strength or weakness on tactical dispositions.

You can prevent your opponent from defeating you through defense, but you cannot defeat him without taking the offensive.

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.

Set the troops to their tasks without imparting your designs.

Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

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