Sun Tzu

"Confusion and perplexity in the midst of the army breed a desolate victory."

"The general who wins a hundred times in a hundred battles is not the most skillful. He that conquers the enemy without fighting is supreme."

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

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory."

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

"The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different places."

"Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Keep your forces at ready and wait for disorder within the enemy ranks."

"The supreme warrior breaks the enemy's will to fight without ever striking a blow."

"Concentrate your strengths against your enemy's weaknesses."

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

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

"The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy."

"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill."

"Disorder inevitably results from mismanagement."

"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."

"One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or not at all."

"Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness."

"Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance."

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

"If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant."

"Make no demonstration until the enemy has fully disclosed his position."

"In conflict, straightforward actions generally produce successful battles; surprise actions generally lead to extraordinary victories."

"The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent."

"A clever general, therefore, avoids his strength and attacks his weakness."

"Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards."

"Water shapes its course based on the ground over which it flows; the soldier shapes his victory based on the foe which he is facing."

"Those who are skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without any fighting."

"The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth."