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. No ruler… - Sun Tzu

Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.
But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

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.

But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his
own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay
where you are.
Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded
by content.
But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again
into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. 21. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life. 22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.

The art of war is the art of deception.

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

Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.