Martial Arts Quotes

“Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it...Don't allow his anger to become your anger.”
― Bohdi Sanders, Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”
― Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

“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

“The Talmud states, "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
― Bridges McCall

“Preoccupied with a single leaf you won't see the tree.”
― Vagabond

“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

“The two shadows, black against the dark, defined by voids of light, moved at impossible speeds.”
― William Kely McClung, Super Ninja: The Sword of Heaven

“The warrior learns of the spiritual realm by dwelling on the cutting edge of the sword, standing at the edge of the fire pit, venturing right up to the edge of starvation if necessary. Vibrant and intense living is the warrior's form of worship.”
― Stephen K. Hayes

“You Have the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams!”
― Dr. Tae Yun Kim, Seven Steps to Inner Power

“... but to remain historically accurate, I would have had to leave out an important question that I felt needed to be addressed, which is, 'What if Jesus had known kung fu?”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal

“In Japan, a number of time-honored everyday activities (such as making tea, arranging flowers, and writing) have traditionally been deeply examined by their proponents. Students study how to make tea, perform martial arts, or write with a brush in the most skillful way possible to express themselves with maximum efficiency and minimum strain. Through this efficient, adroit, and creative performance, they arrive at art. But if they continue to delve even more deeply into their art, they discover principles that are truly universal, principles relating to life itself. Then, the art of brush writing becomes shodo—the “Way of the brush”—while the art of arranging flowers is elevated to the status of kado—the “Way of flowers.” Through these Ways or Do forms, the Japanese have sought to realize the Way of living itself. They have approached the universal through the particular.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“There were only two men on the planet better educated in the various martial arts than Butler, and he was related to one of them. The other lived on an island in the South China Sea, and spent his days meditating and beating up palm trees. You really had to feel sorry for those goblins.”
― Eoin Colfer, The Arctic Incident

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”
― Bruce Lee

“Unfortunately, religion often works to shrink and tame the very wild and mysterious forces that first drew our wonder. In the process of making the inexplicable safe for the masses, the possibilities for real illusion-piercing insight becomes reduced. One might say that they are only available to those who dare to ride the breaking crest of direct life-altering experience.”
― Stephen K. Hayes

“The most difficult part ot traditional taekwondo is not learning
the first kick or punch. It is not struggling to remember the
motions of a poomsae or becoming aquainted with Korean culture.
Rather, it is taking the first step across the threshold of the dojang
door. This is where roads diverge, where choices are made that
will resonate throughout a lifetime.”
― Doug Cook, Taekwondo: A Path to Excellence

“I’ve learned to fall like the BJJ player, to protect the body through controlling the distribution of force by slapping the mat with hands open. With hands open. Hands open. Open. O Pen.”
― Cameron Conaway, Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet

“I can show you the path but I can not walk it for you.”
― Master Iain Armstrong , Get Your Health Back FAST With Chinese Chi Kung.

“The Destructive Arts are exactly like Martial Arts, except they don't have uniforms or usefulness and the end result doesn't resemble art in any way.”
― Jim Benton, Okay, So Maybe I Do Have Superpowers

“The Chinese words ‘kung fu’ translate more or less as ‘a man hard at work over a long time’. If you want to unlock the full power of kung fu, it is not going to be easy: you are going to have to work, you are going to have to sacrifice and you are going to have to suffer – over a long time. There really is no such thing as a free lunch.”
― Master Iain Armstrong

“Tenderness relieves strength that encumbers.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“The historic beauty of BJJ rests not with its ability to allow a smaller man to maim a larger man, but with its ability to allow any man of any size to survive.”
― Cameron Conaway, Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet

“He landed on cheap shot, but I knocked him out of the tournament.”
― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence

“I think all artists struggle to represent the geometry
of life in their own way, just like writers deal with
archetypes. There are only so many stories that you can
tell, but an infinite number of storytellers.”
― Henry Mosquera, Sleeper's Run

“If you take a bus, you should know when to get off!".”
― Master Iain Armstrong, Get Your Health Back FAST With Chinese Chi Kung.

“. . . the sole aim of Okinawa Karate is to teach A person to handle violence and violent individuals; whether it is tactile, mental or spiritual”
― Soke Behzad Ahmadi, KARATE POWER Lethal power of Fajin

“Η δυνατή γροθιά κατά την γνώμη μου, δεν είναι αυτή που θα πετάξει τον αντίπαλο τρία μέτρα μακριά, δυνατά γροθιά είναι εκείνη που οταν την δώσεις θα φύγεις πίσω και εσύ ο ίδιος.”
― Γιώργος Μ.

“Simply believing a technique is above failure guarantees its failure.”
― Colin Wee, Breaking Through: The Secrets of Bassai Dai Kata

“Do you really believe that strength has anything to do with whether you win or lose? You will always be weaker. You will always be smaller and at a disadvantage. He is beating you because you are allowing him to define the terms of the contest. You want to win? Change the terms. Improvise, adapt, cheat. Lean into your strengths, not his.”
― Shay Hatten

“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

“If you don't prepare for aggression, aggression will be prepared for you.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov