Sun Tzu

“מאה ניצחונות במאה קרבות הוא לא הטוב שבטוב. ניצחון ללא קרב הוא הטוב שבטוב.”

“הכר את האויב שלך, והכר את עצמך. אפילו אם תילחם במאה קרבות, לעולם לא תובס...”

“הזריזות היא תמצית ניהול המלחמה.”

“שמע מינה, איזהו משכיל־בהתקפה, שיריבו אינו יודע על מה יגן; ואיזהו משכיל־בהגנה, שיריבו אינו יודע מה יתקיף.”

“כל מלחמה עומדת על הטעיה.”

“במלחמה יהיה איפוא עיקר מבוקשך הניצחון, ולא מסעי מלחמה ממושכים.”

“חכמת המלחמה היא בעלת חשיבות חיונית למדינה.”

“Move swift as the Wind and closely-formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain.”

“There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.”

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

“Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.”

“It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two.”

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.”

“Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive.”

“Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.”

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

“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.”

“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”

“Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.”