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.
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Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.
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17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign. 18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle.
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Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. One defends when his strength is inadequate; he attacks when it is abundant.
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O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.
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Do not press an enemy at bay.
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Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victories in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those wh
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Therefore the skilful 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.
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If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
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It does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and the moon, nor does it take sharp ears to hear the thunderclap. Wisdom is not obvious. You must see the subtle and notice the hidden to be victorious.
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Invincibility lies in the defense the possibility of victory in the attack. One defends when his strength is inadequate he attacks when it is abundant.
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There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
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The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
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War is based on deception.
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The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities...It is best to win without fighting.
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Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
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To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
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Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
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A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.
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War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.
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All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
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If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
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There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
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All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.
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If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result is victory, then you must not fight, even at the ruler's bidding.
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Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
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If you are near the enemy, make him believe you are far from him.
If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.
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The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
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Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
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Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first of these factors is moral influence.
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