Quotes on Military Strategy

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.

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.

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.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle

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

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