"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand."

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight, even at the ruler's bidding."

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

"The principle of war is to be neither too confident nor too fearful."