Quotes About Strategy

When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.

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

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

Those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take, and with lures of ostensible profit they await him in strength.

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

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

the worst calamities that befall an army arise from hesitation

Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.

Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat

if you fight with all your might,  there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your corner

Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose.

Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory;  show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.

Deep knowledge is to be aware of disturbance before disturbance, to be aware of danger before danger, to be aware of destruction before destruction, to be aware of calamity before calamity. Strong action is training the body without being burdened by the body, exercising the mind without being used by the mind, working in the world without being affected by the world, carrying out tasks without being obstructed by tasks.

You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.

You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst. [One may know the condition of a whole army from the behavior of a single man.]

The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.

It is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance and not the ambitious seeker of fortune.

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.

When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy.

The Art of War is self-explanatory

By reinforcing every part, he weakens every part.