Miyamoto Musashi > Quotes

“1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Do nothing that is of no use”
― Musashi Miyamoto, Book of Five Rings

“The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“You can only fight the way you practice”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“from one thing, know ten thousand things”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“Do not regret what you have done”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“In battle, if you you make your opponent flinch, you have already won.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi

“If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“To know ten thousand things, know one well”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”
― Miyamoto Musashi

“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings