Sun Tzu

"All warfare is based on deception."

"Know your enemy and know yourself."

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak."

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

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight."

"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle."

"He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence."

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

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity."

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."

"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him."

"Confusion and noise are the refuge of the fools."

"When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard."

"Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance."

"The skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and then waits for an opportunity to defeat the enemy."

"Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment."

"It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general that will use the highest intelligence of the army for purposes of spying."

"Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across."

"Discipline, when properly administered, does not create resentment; it prevents it."

"A good captain is assiduous in his duties, ever watchful, and is respected by his subordinates."

"Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy."

"If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things."

"To know your enemy, you must become your enemy."

"The general who wins a hundred battles is not the supreme commander; the supreme commander is the one who wins without fighting."

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."

"A hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the enemy's army without battle is the most skillful."

"Be swift as the wind."