If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.

When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become, as it were, like rolling logs or stones... The energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height.

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

As water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy.

To persuade your enemy to (retreat) before the fight is to defeat them even before the battle begins. An enemy made ally is no longer an enemy.

If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory.