Sun-Tzu..................................................

“There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” 

“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected .” 

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win” 

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”

“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” 

“There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must not be attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.” 

“Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people who know the conditions of the enemy.” 

“We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.” 

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

-Sun Tzu,   The Art of War