Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.

The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side.

The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify the minor blunders and not be swayed by petty doubts.

There is nothing more difficult than tactical maneuvering. The difficult consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.

He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle .... They conquer by strategy.

To conquer the enemy without resorting to war is the most desirable. The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy.

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.