Lionel Giles

Chapter 6. Weak Points and Strong

According as circumstances are favourable, one should modify one's plans.

(1)
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
(2)
He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
(3)
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4)
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5)
He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sov

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.

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

When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
Such is the art of warfare.

When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men; when you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery

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 manœuvres.

If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive; and, unless submissive, they will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be useless.
Therefore soldiers must be treated in the first instance with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. This is a certain road to victory

If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame.”