Quotes and Sayings

A dog at play has the mind of a wise martial arts master, a mind capable of perfect focus.
- Anonymous

To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.
- Bruce Lee

You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do.
- Gichin Funakoshi

Aikido is not a defensive martial art. Being defensive is a terrible way to go through life.This means be proactive. It does not mean hit first.
- Dojo wall

The ultimate aim of karate-do lies not in victory or defeat,
but in the perfection of the character of its participants.”
- Gichin Funakoshi

A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude.”
- Rick English

Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can, using only their hands and feet, make some of the worst movies in the history of the world.
- Dave Barry

The art of the sword consists of never being concerned with victory or defeat, with strength or weakness, of not moving one step forward, nor one step backward, or the enemy not seeing me and my not seeing the enemy. Penetrating to that which is fundamental before the separation of heaven and earth where even yin and yang cannot reach, one instantly attains proficiency in the art.
- Takuan

He who knows not and knows not he knows not, He is a fool- Shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not, He is simple- Teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows, He is asleep- Awaken him. He who knows and knows that he knows, He is wise- follow him.
- Bruce Lee

Of those who start TaeKwonDo training, only about 5% stick with it until they achieve the Black Belt Rank. Then perhaps 80% of those who earn a Black stop there.
- Duk Sung Son

The FAQ that can be read is not the true FAQ.
The answers that can be posted are not the true answers.
The superior man hears not the whining of newbies and is not singed by the flames of the net. Belts do not bind him, nor trophies burden him. Discarding all, he gains all, and follows the way. Got any spare change, pal?
- Lao Tzu

Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.
- Bruce Lee

The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between “for” and “against” is the mind’s worst disease.
- Bruce Lee

It’s not the style that wins the fight, without the fighter, the style is nothing. It is the good fighter that makes any particular style a good style for him. The style has no power within it’s self, only the power in which we give it when we apply what we learn.
- Phillip Session (aka Black Dragon)

To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill.
- Sun Tsu

A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action.
- Anonymous

An autumn night — don’t think your life didn’t matter.
- Basho

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only infinite passion of life.
— Federico Fellini

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.
— Samuel Johnson

My instructor once told me that the first five dan ranks come for what you’ve gotten out of the system, the next ranks come for what you’ve given back
- Anonymous

The believer is happy, the doubter wise.
— Greek proverb

Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end.
- Gichin Funakoshi

If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it?
— Zen saying

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.
— Rumi

It takes a long time to understand nothing.
— Edward Dahlberg

Some there are that torment themselves afresh with the memory of what is past; others, again, afflict themselves with the apprehension of evils to come; and very ridiculously both - for the one does not now concern us, and the other not yet … One should count each day as a separate life.
- Seneca

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself
- Chinese Proverb

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it: If you can dream it, you can become it.
- William Arthur Ward

Someone asked, “How is the sword of wisdom before it is whetted?” Shuiyan said, “Can’t be used.” The questioner continued, ” How is it after it is whetted?” Shuiyan said, ” Can’t be touched.”
— Zen Mondo

I have not failed 700 times, I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.
-Thomas Edison

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
- Mohandas Gandhi

The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard. The strongest way to block, is never to provoke a blow. And the cleanest cut is the one withheld.
- Anonymous

I am a cobra and these words are my venom. And through my magical lore I shall capture your mind and spew my poison into your eyes. Then my world will become your world and you shall die
- Anonymous

What is soundless, touchless, formless, imperishable, Likewise tasteless, constant, odorless, Without beginning, without end, higher than the great, stable—By discerning That, one is liberated from the mouth of death.
—The Upanishads

Mysticism occurs whenever a human being sees the separation between the natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, as overcome.
— Albert Schweitzer

Hoping to see Karate included in the universal physical education taught in our public schools, I set about revising the kata so as to make them as simple as possible. Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change too. The Karate that high school students practice today is not the same Karate that was practiced even as recently as ten years ago, and it is a long way indeed from the Karate I learned when I was a child in Okinawa.
- Gichin Funakoshi

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