Marc MacYoung > Quotes

“The willingness to use force usually means you won't have to. It is a paradox because our modern culture conditions us to believe violence attracts violence, and violence never solves anything.”
― Marc MacYoung, In the Name of Self-Defense:: What it costs. When it's worth it

“Without stupid, there is no plot.”
― Marc MacYoung

“Between stimulus and response there is a gap. It's a moment of choice about our actions and reactions. Most people blow past this, react out of habit and then claim they were helpless against themselves.

Mind the gap.”
― Marc MacYoung

“New points of view are not, as a rule, discovered in territory that is already known, but in out-of-the way places that may even be avoided because of their bad name. Carl Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausual Connecting Principle”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“I am constantly approached by people who are willing to go to any extreme for personal safety...except practicing basic emotional control.”
― Marc MacYoung

“You can't pull a gun just because a crazy person wants to talk to you. If I did that I'd never get through a family Christmas.”
― Marc MacYoung

“A lot of people don't have opinions...they have weaponized ideals.”
― Marc MacYoung

“Years ago, a drug addict said something very profound to me. He said I didn't understand about addiction. His life was only about one thing: getting drugs. It simplified his life in that all the other things people have to think about, worry about, and deal with—he didn't. His life wasn't easy, but it was simple, cut down to what he could cope with. You will find this same attitude in people who try to reduce life to only one thing. This includes being obsessed about danger.”
― Marc MacYoung, In the Name of Self-Defense:: What it costs. When it's worth it

“Or it can be as subtle as to stop what you are doing and– without fear– turn your full attention to someone approaching and say, “That’s close enough. What can I do for you?” Another is while maintaining the boundary pretend you don’t know the answer to the question or have what he asks for.[26] This derails the typical robbery script.”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“There are a number of models. The one we like is Rory Miller’s social and asocial violence. It’s quick, easy to remember, and– most importantly– it’s something you can apply in an actual situation.”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“We're harsh judges on the bad behavior of others, but lawyers for our own.”
― Marc MacYoung, Beyond The Picket Fence: Life Outside the Middle-Class Bubble

“The first component of self-defense, “understanding violence”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“If a bull is charging you, meeting him head to head is going to fuck you up. But a matador doesn’t meet the bull’s charge head on. He uses a red cape to distract the bull, and the bull ends up charging the wrong target. Instead of his ass getting gored, the matador lets the cape take the abuse. Finally when the bull passes for the last time, the matador sticks a blade into its heart. Voila! A giant shish kebab! That is how a man stands up to a bull. He doesn’t go head to head with it because he knows he’d lose.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“Como se de se,”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“It’s over, I won.” That’s fine and dandy, but most times it isn’t true. It isn’t the first round that counts; it’s the total at the end that decides the winner.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“Black Muslims are an out-and-out pain in the ass. They can be as bigoted and vicious as any white supremacist. They have taken aspects of Islam and mixed them with racial hatred and U.S. black culture. Like radical feminists, their hatred and anger spur them on. Avoid them if you can; if not, don’t let them get the first move. Also, let them know up front that it’s not a racial thing; it’s because they’re being assholes who’re hiding behind religion.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“By the way, it’s harder to become less tough once you have it than it is to become tough.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“This is a big concept so let’s spend some time on it. Again, most violence is social in nature. How do you tell? Marc uses the wheelbarrow test. You can put your money, wallet, purse, or car keys (resources) into a wheelbarrow. You cannot put your pride, social status, emotions, feelings of being ‘disrespected,’ or enforcing the way things are ‘round here in a wheelbarrow. If that’s what the conflict is about it’s social. What you can do is climb into the wheelbarrow and sit down. Your physical body is a resource. One you have the right and responsibility to protect from harm. And that by definition is self-defense. You are protecting your body from injury or death– not fighting over an insult or threat to your emotions.”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“what’s down deep remains amazingly similar. It’s not whom you hate, but rather that the system is designed for you to hate someone.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“What’s amazing about this rule is that people don’t even know consciously that it exists, yet it is the kingpin that keeps millions of people chained down. The rule is simple, and incredibly insidious: “Thou shalt not question the operating system thou art given!” What’s weird is that you can rebel against the system, but you can’t question it.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“H.P. Lovecraft, wrote of places of evil and filth, of places where slimy things crawled away from the light to nurse on poison and scum.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“An effective California prison term I picked up is “gimme five feet!” I usually decorate it with a few colorful adjectives. This tells street people that they’ve fucked up and picked a homeboy instead of a civilian. A homeboy won’t let them get off the first shot; a civilian will. It is critical to remember that these guys know that their asses are on the line. They can’t afford to pick the wrong target.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“If you learn how to read the different operating systems and how they affect people’s behavior, you will be much safer.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“It’s easy to forget, there is a difference between self-defense and training for self-defense. What we are about to say applies to self-defense– not training.”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground

“Self-defense is constantly blending many different aspects of life. It is the art of continuous kinetic balance. It is understanding your fellow human being as well as you understand yourself. It is knowing how your opponent thinks and weighing possibilities in your head. It is understanding that your opponent doesn’t think he’s a bad guy in his own eyes, and neither do you.”
― Marc MacYoung, Cheap Shots, Ambushes, and Other Lessons: A Down and Dirty Book on Streetfighting and Survival

“A solid rule when you are playing other people is you do not win big and immediately walk away.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“It is always important to realize that people attack what is unfamiliar to them.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“If you try violence, I will defend.” Perhaps defend isn’t the best term; retaliate is better.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“if necessary, leave. The party may be spoiled, you might not be able to see the end of the movie, etc. so what? It’s better than getting your head knocked in or being around to watch the stomping that is about to happen. somebody is going to get seriously hurt. That means hospitals and police—not fun, folks. oddly enough, when you are really tough, it’s easier to walk away from this sort of thing.”
― Marc MacYoung, Violence, Blunders, and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette

“An immediate threat consists of what is actually happening not what you’re afraid might occur.”
― Marc MacYoung, What You Don't Know Can Kill You: How Most Self-Defense Training Will Put You into Prison or the Ground