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" If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril. "

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" Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. "

" It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used. "

" 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. "

" If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity. "

" It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results. "

" 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. "

" 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; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. "

" There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare. "

" He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. "

" He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. "

" A good commander is benevolent and unconcerned with fame. "

" Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and you know Earth, you may make your victory complete. "

" Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move. "

" To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence. "

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

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

" Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge. "

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

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

" The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom. "

" To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. "

" Victory usually goes to the army who has better trained officers and men. "

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

" In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. "

" If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. "

" Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory. "

" 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. "

" There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited. "

" He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious. "

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