Be the first to seize intersecting ground, that is ground which lies the intersections of borders or intersections of main thoroughfares of commerce and travel. Your occupation of it gives you access to all who border it and all who would covet it. On intersecting ground, if you establish alliances you are safe, if you lose alliances you are in peril.
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
The control of large numbers is possible, and like unto that of small numbers, if we subdivide them.
In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack.. the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.
Without harmony in the State, no military expedition can be undertaken; without harmony in the army, no battle array can be formed.
Order or disorder depends on organisation and direction; courage or cowardice on circumstances; strength or weakness on tactical dispositions.
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.
Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
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.
The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.
Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called entangling.
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.
In the tumult and uproar, the battle seems chaotic, but there is no disorder, the troops appear to be milling about in circles but cannot be defeated.
The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.
One who sets the entire army in motion to chase an advantage will not attain it.
If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.
Should one ask: 'how do I cope with a well-ordered enemy host about to attack me?' I reply: seize something he cherishes and he will conform to your desires.
One who has few must prepare against the enemy; one who has many makes the enemy prepare against him.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.
Therefore I say: know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.
Whoever is the first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight... Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy... By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.
The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.
Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.
Who can determine where one ends and the other begins?
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