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.
One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.
The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.
Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.
The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.
Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.
What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.
Therefore the skillful 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.
Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him
If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. 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. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory.
Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.
You can ensure the success of your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Therefore, that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.
And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.
Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, 1 but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganisation; (6) rout.
If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.
The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.
Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.
The good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.
Businesses once grew by one of two ways; grass roots up, or by acquisition... Today businesses grow through alliances - all kinds of dangerous alliances. Joint ventures and customer partnerings which, by the way, very few people understand.
If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight.
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