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.
Thus the skilful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willy-nilly, by the hand.
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.
If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy.
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
Of old the expert in battle would first make himself invincible and then wait for his enemy to expose his vulnerability.
Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.
Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise, for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.
The essential factor of military success is speed, that is taking advantage of others' unpreparedness or lack of foresight, their failure to catch up, going by routes they do not expect, attacking where they are not on guard. This you cannot accomplish with hesitation.
Perfection in war lies in so sapping your opponents will that he surrenders without fighting.
And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.
Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger.
No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.
Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.
What is of the greatest importance in war is extraordinary speed: One cannot afford to neglect opportunity.
Like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.
If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.
When you shoot a bow and arrow, you aim at the clouds, not because you expect to hit them, but so that you may reach the distant target on the ground.
Act after having made assessments. The one who first knows the measure of far and near wins - this is the rule of armed struggle.
There is no place where espionage is not possible.
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