• Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
• The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities...It is best to win without fighting.
• All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him.
• Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions.
• A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective.
• Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
• Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.