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

The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points.

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.