Nowhere To Go But Back To Sleep

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. (This sentence contains one of those highly condensed and somewhat enigmatical expressions of which Sun Tzu is so fond. This is how it is explained by Ts’ao Kung: Make it appear that you are a long way off, then cover the distance rapidly and arrive on the scene before your opponent.

Paul Simon: Peace Like a River

Tu Mu says:
Hoodwink the enemy,
so that he may be
remiss and leisurely
while you are
dashing along
with utmost speed.
Ho Shih gives
a slightly different turn:
Although you may have
difficult ground to traverse
and natural obstacles
to encounter
this is a drawback
which can be turned
into actual advantage
by celerity of movement.

Signal examples
of this saying
are afforded by
the two famous passages
across the Alps--
that of Hannibal,
which laid Italy at his mercy,
and that of Napoleon
two thousand years later,
which resulted in
the great victory of Marengo.)
Thus, to take
a long and circuitous route,
after enticing the enemy
out of the way,
and though starting after him,
to contrive to reach
the goal before him,
shows knowledge
of the artifice of DEVIATION.

--Sun Tzu
The Art of War