"Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him"(Tzu 11). Though the art of deception seems obvious now, it was almost a revolutionary idea to his peers. He also includes how to win wars without engaging in battle, hence the title of the third chapter; "The Sheathed Sword" (Tzu 15). The first sentence of this chapter is "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemies resistance without fighting"(Tzu 15). This idea has inspired multiple covert missions breaking a nation down to the point of weakness or complete defeat. The same chapter has a three sentence paragraph which is known throughout the military community. It reads, .
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle (Tzu 18). This short ending paragraph states the importance of knowing and understanding not only the enemy, but your own army as well. The idea stated has inspired many nations to invest their time and money into an intelligence agency, no matter how primitive. Some believe because of this statement, he is the father of ancient intelligence. The next chapter labeled "Tactics" and the next six that follow focus on putting ones army in a position to succeed. Sun Tzu compares an army to water. Explaining that, "Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions" (Tzu 29). Ones army must be liquid in its movement, quickly and as one body. Finally, the final chapter labeled "The Use of Spies", vividly explains how to recruit, handle ones own spies and also use enemy spies against them. Unlike most of the book so far, the thirteenth chapter has specifications in it that are still being used today.