33 Strategies Of War

Know when to be a warrior. Know when to be a diplomat.

Conceal your intentions, disguise your actions, and confuse the enemy.

The only guarantee, ever, is that things will go wrong. The only thing we can use to mitigate this is anticipation.

Appear to follow the interests of others while furthering your own.

One of the essential ingredients for success in war is the ability to overreach your opponent's plans and designs.

The key in strategy, then, is not to choose a path to victory, but to choose so that all paths lead to victory.

The greatest generals see what is most likely to happen and prepare for it.

The essence of strategy is the ability to foresee what is not obvious.

Learn to use mental confusion to your advantage; it creates an opening for the unexpected.

You must learn to compose yourself at all times, never be swayed by the emotions of the moment.

When you show yourself to the enemy in order to lure him in, you are practicing deception.

One of the greatest dangers in strategy is that you become a prisoner of your own habitual ways of thinking.