“Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.”

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

Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.

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.

Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.

Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.

Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.

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

Wheels of justice gind slow but grind fine.

There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.

Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.

Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.

There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.

One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers Communist and the disarming of the bourgeoisie the middle class.

The reason why there is now no communist government in Paris is because in the circumstances of 1945 the Soviet army was not able to reach French soil.

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.

A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.

Those who are opposed to armed uprising. Must be ruthlessly kicked out as enemies, traitors and cowards.

Ah, these diplomats! What chatterboxes! There’s only one way to shut them up – cut them down with machine guns. Bulganin, go and get me one!

Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.

It often happens that less depends upon the valor of an army than the skill of the leader.