Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain.

If you do not take opportunity to advance and reward the deserving, your subordinates will not carry out your commands, and disaster will ensue.

So long as victory can be attained, stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness.

You have to believe in yourself.

All war is deception.

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.

Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.

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.

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.

There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combinationthey produce more hues than can ever been seen.There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations ofthem yield more...

The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.

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.

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.

Quão lamentável é arriscar tudo em um único combate, negligenciando a estratégia vitoriosa, e fazer com que o destino de tuas armas dependa de uma única batalha!

Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.

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.

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

When we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away…

Be stern in the council-chamber, [Show no weakness, and insist on your plans being ratified by the sovereign.] so that you may control the situation.

These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not to be swayed by petty doubts.

War is based on deception.

defeat the enemies strategy

One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful, subduing the other’s military without battle is the most skillful.

For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.

Do not press an enemy at bay.

One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.

Never venture, never win!

To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy’s numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.

When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used.

To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.

Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.

Know the enemy, know yourself and victory is never in doubt, not in a hundred battles.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side.

It is imperative to contest all factions for complete victory, so the army is not garrisoned and the profit can be total. This is the law of strategic siege.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

Ciente de tuas capacidades e limitações, não inicies nenhuma empreitada que não possas levar a cabo.

the worst calamities that befall an army arise from hesitation

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.

A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.

When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteoousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders’.

Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.