In Chapter 20 of his 1968 classic, Strategy, military theorist and historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart delineated the following eight maxims:
Adjust your end to your means.
Keep your object always in mind, while adapting your plan to circumstances.
Choose the line (or course) of least expectation.
Exploit the line of least resistance—so long as it can lead you to any objective that would contribute to your underlying object.
Take a line of operation which offers alternative objectives.
Ensure that both plans and dispositions are flexible—adaptable to circumstances.
Do not throw your weight into a stroke whilst your opponent is on guard—whilst he is well placed to parry or evade it.
Do not renew an attack along the same line (or in the same form) after it has once failed.