“Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.”

Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain.

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.

Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

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.

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.

Move swift as the Wind and closely-formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

Great results, can be achieved with small forces.

Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

Do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat.

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.

When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy.

All night I dreamt of bonfires and burn piles and ghosts of men, and spirits behind those birds of flame. I cannot tell anymore when a door opens or closes,

I can only hear the frame saying, Walk through.

Kings need the world, but the world does not need the kings! Let them disappear like the horrible ghosts of the nightmares!

If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?

All the world loves a ghost. The evidence of that simple statement can be found by looking in nearly every direction.

I will still live like a ghost in the mornings; walking, listening, pouring coffee to finish sometime by the afternoon, when I’ve had enough of watching the world and do all I can to live in it.

Please stop trying to make me the ghost of your past lover.

I project myself out through the glasses and across the street, a ghost in the morning sunlight, torn with disembodied lust.