Quotes on War Strategy

The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.

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.

Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.

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.

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

Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man.

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

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

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.

And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.

Know thy self, know thy enemy.

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

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

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

If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.

Rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him

The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

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