Sun Tzu
Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.Collection: Art
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.Collection: Wisdom
Those who would wage war, should first eliminate all domestic enemies before proceeding to attack the external foe.Collection: War
However desperate the situation and circumstances, don't despair. When there is everything to fear, be unafraid. When surrounded by dangers, fear none of them. When without resources, depend on resourcefulness. When surprised, take the enemy by surprise.Collection: Mma
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.Collection: Crush
Wait by the river long enough and the body of your enemy will float by you.Collection: Rivers
He who knows his enemy and himself well will not be defeated easily.Collection: Art Of War
The successful person has unusual skill at dealing with conflict and ensuring the best outcome for all.Collection: Successful
All war is based on deception.Collection: Peace
Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization.Collection: Art Of War
Do not engage an enemy more powerful than you. And if it is unavoidable and you do have to engage, then make sure you engage it on your terms, not on your enemy's terms.Collection: Art
Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.Collection: Inspirational Life
These are the six ways of courting defeat - neglect to estimate the enemy's strength; want of authority; defective training; unjustifiable anger; nonobservance of discipline; failure to use picked men.Collection: Art
The line between disorder and order lies in logistics.Collection: Lying
Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment - that which they cannot anticipate.Collection: Art
If your enemy is superior, evade himCollection: Enemy
Don't flail against the world, use it. Flexibility is the operative principle in the art of war.Collection: Art
Unless you enter the tiger's lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger's cub's.Collection: Cubs
Factors in the art of warfare are: First, calculations; second, quantities; third, logistics; fourth, the balance of power; and fifth, the possibility of victory is based on the balance of power.Collection: Art
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.Collection: War
You can prevent your opponent from defeating you through defense, but you cannot defeat him without taking the offensive.Collection: Warrior
Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.Collection: Enemy
It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory,; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.Collection: Army
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.Collection: Art
In a position of this sort, even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait, it will be advisable not to stir forth, but rather to retreat, thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage.Collection: Art
Without harmony in the State, no military expedition can be undertaken; without harmony in the army, no battle array can be formed.Collection: Military
Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity.Collection: Art
Winning Strategists are certain of triumph before seeking a challenge. Losing Strategists are certain to challenge before seeking a triumph.Collection: Winning
Invincibility depends on one's self; the enemy's vulnerability on him.Collection: Art
This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair. After that, you may crush him.Collection: Crush
The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.Collection: Art
Too frequent rewards indicate that the general is at the end of his resources; too frequent punishments that he is in acute distress.Collection: War
One whose troops repeatedly congregate in small groups here and there, whispering together, has lost the masses. One who frequently grants rewards is in deep distress. One who frequently imposes punishments is in great difficulty. One who is at first excessively brutal and then fears the masses is the pinnacle of stupidity.Collection: Punishment
If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need to do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.Collection: Art
Thus, though I have heard of successful military operations that were clumsy but swift, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.Collection: Art
Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.Collection: Art
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.Collection: War
If their forces are substantial, prepare for them; if their forces are strong, avoid them.Collection: Strength
When the enemy is at ease, be able to weary him; when well fed, to starve him; when at rest, to make him move. Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.Collection: Art
When the thunderclap comes, there is no time to cover the ears.Collection: Ears
When your weapons are dulled and ardour damped, your strength exhausted and treasure spent, neighboring rulers will take advantage of your distress to act. And even though you have wise counsellors, none will be able to lay good plans for the future. Thus, while we have heard of blundering swiftness in war, we have not yet seen a clever operation that was prolonged.Collection: Wise
Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.Collection: War
To conquer the enemy without resorting to war is the most desirable. The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy.Collection: War
Thus the skilful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willy-nilly, by the hand.Collection: Art
The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy.Collection: Art
Generally, management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization. And to control many is the same as to control few. This is a matter of formations and signals.Collection: Organization
Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy.Collection: War
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.Collection: War
It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.Collection: Art