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Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.

Sun Tzu

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Sun Tzu
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More quotes by Sun Tzu

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To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skilful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good.
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When strong, avoid them. If of high morale, depress them. Seem humble to fill them with conceit. If at ease, exhaust them. If united, separate them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.
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Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.
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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.
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Do not press an enemy at bay. Prince Fu Ch'ai said: Wild beasts, when at bay, fight desperately. How much more is this true of men! If they know there is no alternative, they will fight to the death.
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When you shoot a bow and arrow, you aim at the clouds, not because you expect to hit them, but so that you may reach the distant target on the ground.
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The height of strategy, is to attack your opponent's strategy.
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Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy forceful execution of even a poor plan can often bring victory.
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It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
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Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.
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Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow...they have form but are formless. They are skilled in both planning and adapting and need not fear the result of a thousand battles: for they win in advance, defeating those that have already lost.
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It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible.
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When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.
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In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack.. the direct and the indirect yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.
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The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
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War is a matter of vital importance to the state the province of life or death the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.
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Weigh the situation, then move.
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It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory, show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.
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A warrior who is prepared to fight must also be prepared to die.
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Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.
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