When the thunderclap comes, there is no time to cover the ears.

Go into emptiness, strike voids, bypass what he defends hit him where he does not expect you.

He who relies solely on warlike measures shall be exterminated; he who relies solely on peaceful measures shall perish.

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.

Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all.

If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need to do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.

Now a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is only on returning to camp.