Sun Tzu's The Art of War

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed,79 the gain will be mutual.

There are five dangerous faults that may affect a general: (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;25 (2) cowardice, which leads to capture;26 (3) a nasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;27 (4) a delicacy of honor that is sensitive to shame;28 (5) over solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

3. 塗有所不由, 軍有所不擊, 城有所不攻, 地有所不爭, 君命有所不受。

3. There are roads that must not be followed,8 armies that must not be attacked,9 towns10 that must not be besieged,11 positions that must not be contested, commands of the sovereign that must not be obeyed.

Do not swallow a bait offered by the enemy.51 Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.

All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack— the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination gives rise to an unending series of maneuvers.

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.24 (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.25 (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.26 (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 sovereign.27 Victory lies in the knowledge of these five points.