Quote 4 of 19

From Sun Tzu's The Art of War

Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to
take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it
is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than
to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire
than to destroy them.

Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme
excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's
resistance without fighting.

Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans; the
next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next
in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst
policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
		-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
		   iii. Attack by Strategem

Tags: army resistance detachment artofwar suntzu practicalart walledcities supremeexcellence suntzutheartofwar