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By persistently hanging on the enemy’s flank, we shall succeed in the long run in killing the commander-in-chief.
Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.
a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day.
what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.
local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district.
inward spies, making use of officials of the enemy.
converted spies, getting hold of the enemy’s spies and using them for our own purposes.
doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy.
Surviving spies, finally, are those who bring back news from the enemy’s camp.
If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.
Whether the object be to crush an army, to storm a city, or to assassinate an individual, it is always necessary to begin by finding out the names of the attendants, the aides-de-camp, and door-keepers and sentries of the general in command.
