To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

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

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete.

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.

Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

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

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