O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible, and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible if you make for the enemy's weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy. If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve. If the enemy is the invading party, we can cut his line of communications and occupy the roads by which he will have to return; if we are the invaders, we may direct our attack against the sovereign himself.
Of XIII, VI. Weak Points & Strong, in The Art of War, Sun Tzu, translated in 1910 by Lionel Giles, edited and with a foreword by James Clavell, Dell Publishing, 1983
Of XIII, VI. Weak Points & Strong, in The Art of War, Sun Tzu, translated in 1910 by Lionel Giles, edited and with a foreword by James Clavell, Dell Publishing, 1983
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