Sun Tzu
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night.Collection: Art
The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm. What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still.Collection: Warrior
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never peril.Collection: Inspirational
The Art of War is self-explanatoryCollection: Art
When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food.Collection: Art
To plan secretly, to move surreptitiously, to foil the enemy's intentions and balk his schemes, so that at last the day may be won without shedding a drop of blood.Collection: Moving
Unless you know the mountains and the forests, the defiles and impasses, the lay of the marshes and swamps, you cannot maneuver with an armed force. Unless you use local guides, you cannot get the advantages of the land.Collection: Art
So the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence.Collection: Military
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you now Heaven and you know Earth, you may make your victory complete.Collection: War
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.Collection: Art
If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.Collection: Art
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.Collection: Art Of War
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.Collection: War
The control of large numbers is possible, and like unto that of small numbers, if we subdivide them.Collection: Math
What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.Collection: Wise
If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy's position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy's position weak.Collection: Strong
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.Collection: Military
The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.Collection: Art
Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.Collection: Art
He who is not sage and wise, humane and just, cannot use secret agent.s. And he who is not delicate and subtle cannot get the truth out of them.Collection: Wise
Defeat the enemies strategy.Collection: Decision
Fierce language and pretentious advances are signs that the enemy is about to retreat.Collection: Art Of War
It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him; not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible.Collection: Art
To capture the enemy's entire army is better than to destroy it; to take intact a regiment, a company, or a squad is better than to destroy them. For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the supreme of excellence. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.Collection: War
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.Collection: Fighting
To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.Collection: Inspirational
Opportunities increase as they are taken.Collection: Taken
When the leader is morally weak and his discipline not strict, when his instructions and guidance are not enlightened, when there are no consistent rules, neighboring rulers will take advantage of this.Collection: Discipline
Convince your enemy that he will gain very little by attacking you; this will diminish his enthusiasmCollection: Art
The peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict unnecessary.Collection: Knowledge
To ... not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.Collection: War
Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.Collection: Planning
Correct your mistake as soon as you have found it.Collection: Mistake
In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close.Collection: Country
Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.Collection: Enemy
Kill one, terrify a thousand.Collection: Thousand
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.Collection: Art
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.Collection: Thank You
Sweat more during peace: bleed less during warCollection: Badass
Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategyCollection: Wrecks
One mark of a great soldier is that he fight on his own terms or fights not at all.Collection: Art
Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.Collection: Art
If you fight with all your might, there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your cornerCollection: Fighting
The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.Collection: Art
Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.Collection: Art Of War
First learn to become invincible, then wait for your enemy's moment of vulnerability.Collection: Waiting
Be where your enemy is not.Collection: Art
He who wishes to fight must first count the costCollection: Art Of War
If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.Collection: Art