Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

Ponder and deliberate before you act.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

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

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.

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

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

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

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

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

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

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.

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

If words are used to convey intelligence, and if that intelligence is misleading, then the words are being used to deceive.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.