Sun Tzu

If you are to be strong, you must know how to be weak.

The principle of war is to be neither too confident nor too fearful.

To not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared for any eventuality is the greatest of virtues.

If the enemy is in superior strength, evade him.

The ultimate in warfare is to attack the enemy's plans.

He who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.

What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.

Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be complete.

He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.

The art of war is to be like water. For water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

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 long years of campaigning.

The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans.