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Martial Arts Quotes Collection
Inspiration for everyday living regardless of whether or not you are a martial artist.
"There are two rules for being successful in Martial Arts.
Rule 1: Never tell others everything you know."
"A one sided martial artist is a blind martial artist."
-unknown
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class."
- Choi, Hong Hi, Founder of Taekwon-Do
"He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position"
- Ed Parker
"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
"It is not the accumulation of extraneous knowledge, but the realization
of the self within, that constitutes true progress."
- Okakura Kakuzo
"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
"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."
"Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu.
Move quickly.
Sound, calm mind.
Be light in body.
Have a clever mind.
Master the basics."
- Gogen Yamaguchi
"Even though surrounded by several enemies set to attack, fight with the
thought that they are but one."
- Ueshiba
"The sword has to be more than a simple weapon; it has to be an answer to
life's questions."
- Miyamoto Musashi
"The way of the sword and the Way of Zen are identical, for they have the
same purpose; that of killing the ego."
- Yamada Jirokichi
"Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and
spirit alone is not enough."
- Yamada Jirokichi
"The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants." - Gichin Funakoshi
"Where questioning is rewarded, virtues are promoted, respect is demanded,
and love is central........"
- L'abri
"Traditionalists often study what is taught, not what there is to create."
- Ed Parker
"If you don't realize you can kill someone with a bokken, I don't want you
using one in *MY* dojo..."
- Frederick J. Lovret
"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."
"Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end"
- Gichin Funakoshi
"Knowledge does not grow like a tree where you dig a hole, plant your
feet, cover them with dirt, and pour water on them daily. Knowledge grows with
time, work, and dedicated effort. It cannot come by any other means."
-- Ed Parker
"The Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) were conquered and united into one kingdom.
To insure his rule, the king confiscated and banned possession of weapons by
people other than his troops. A second ban on weapons was instituted by Japanese
conquerors approximately 200 years later. These two incidents are generally
credited as the cause for the intense development of the empty-handed fighting
techniques..."
-- Special Forces (USA) manual ST 31-204
"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."
"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
"We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge,
however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling...I slipped through his
grip..."
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
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, as paraphrased on rec.martial-arts
"Aikido is not a defensive martial art. Being defensive is a terrible way
to go through life."
- quote on a dojo wall.
This means be proactive. It does not mean hit first.
"An unwillingness to deal forcibly with violence does not equate to moral
rectitude."
-- Mary Malmros
"It should be easy to spot a black belt in a crowd, s/he should walk like
a Marine on roller skates."
- Fredrick Lovret
"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
-- Some twit on rec.martial-arts who let his Prozac prescription run out
"We staunch traditionalists know that appearance is everything. Technique
is nowhere near as important as having your pleats straight when you die."
- Steve Gombosi
"When in trouble or in doubt, cut down all who move about."
- Frederick J. Lovret
"When in doubt, knock 'em out"
- "Big" Vinny Girolamo - NY Hell's Angels
"Never leave an enemy standing."
- Shaka Zulu (the original one, King of the Zulu Nation...not the American
Karate instructor who appropriated his name)
"He who hesitates, meditates in the horizontal position."
-- Ed Parker
"When pure knuckles meet pure flesh, that's pure Karate, no matter who
executes it or whatever style is involved."
-- Ed Parker
"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die."
-- Gichin Funakoshi
"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, Black Belt Korean Karate
"1-2 out of every 100 students reach Black Belt and of those only 1 out of
every 1,000 achieves his 2nd Dan."
- Masutatsu Oyama, This is Karate
"We are creating a fighting force of extra-ordinary measure! We forge our
bodies in the spirit of our ancestors."
- Kentucky Fried Movie: Fistfull of Yen.
"The time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself."
-- 6th Code
of Isshinryu Karatedo
"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 [this book
was written in 1956], and it is a long way indeed from the Karate I learned when
I was a child in Okinawa."
- Gichin Funakoshi, in his book "Karate-do: My Way of Life" (page 35-36)
"It's not just self defense, it's about...self control, body discipline,
and mind discipline...and breath techniques. It involves yoga. It involves
meditation. It's an art, not a sport."
- Elvis Presley
The Art of Peace is medicine for a sick world. There is evil and disorder
in the world, because people have forgotten that all things emanate from one
source. Return to that source and leave behind all self-centered thoughts, petty
desires, and anger. Those who are possessed by nothing possess everything.
-- Morihei Ueshiba (O'Sensei)
"The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many; that which has
been learned well by one generation can be passed on to a hundred."
-- Jigoro
Kano (1860-1938)
"Follow not in the footsteps of the masters, but rather seek what they
sought."
- unknown
"If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kick-boxing."
- unknown
"'Ow' is not a Kempo word"
- Jonathan Vance
"Truth is universal. Perception of truth is not."
- unknown
"No one nation or people has a monopoly on the sun and no one art or
system as a monopoly on truth."
- Mike Casto
"That which does not kill us, must have missed us."
- Miowara Tomokata
"You are reconsidering your training, or perhaps even contemplating
beginning a new system. You have been told by the teacher that to obtain
proficiency, you may have to train hard for the next two to three years. You
begin to wonder if all of that time out of your life is really worth it. No
matter what your choice is, your going end up there anyway in two to three years
with or without the training."
- Michael R. Boyce
"The
farmer channels water to his land. The Fletcher whittles his arrows. And
the carpenter turns his wood. And the wise man directs his mind."
- Zen saying
"Resolve
to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself loses his misery."
- Zen saying
"It is
good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that
matters, in the end."
- Ursula K. Le Guin
"As a man
is, so he sees."
William Blake
"The water
a cow laps turns into milk; The water a snake licks changes into poison."
- unknown
"When it’s
cold, water freezes into ice; when it’s warm, ice melts into water.
Similarly, when you are confused, essence freezes into mind; when you
are enlightened, mind melts into essence."
- Muso Kokushi
"Man can
learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown."
- Claude
Bernard
"How do
you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?"
- Zen Koan
"Madame,
there are always two paths to take; one back towards the comforts and
security of death, the other forward to nowhere."
- Henry Miller
"This
matter (i.e., Zen) is like a great mass of fire; when you approach it
your face is sure to be scorched. It is again like a sword about to be
drawn; when it is once out of the scabbard, someone is sure to lose his
life. But if you neither fling away the scabbard nor approach the fire,
you are no better than a piece of rock or of wood. Coming to this pass.
One has to be quite a resolute character full of spirit."
—Tai-Hui
"Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end."
— Krishnamurti
"How shall
I grasp it? Do not grasp it. That which remains when there is no more
grasping is the Self."
— Panchadasi
"As soon
as you try to chase and grab Zen, you’ve already stumbled past
it."
—Yuan-Wu
"The rose
is without why it blossoms because it blossoms."
— Angelus Silesuis
"It is as
hard to see one’s self as to look backwards without turning
around."
— Henry David Thoreau
"A primary
aim of Zen is the uncovering of what is known as inherent knowledge.
This is not the kind of knowledge that is produced by thinking based on
conditioned consciousness. It is said that the ignorant are obstructed
by ignorance, while the intellectuals are obstructed by intellectual
knowledge. One way of getting past these obstacles and approaching
inherent knowledge is to let go of whatever comes to mind."
— Muso Kokushi
"Do your
work, then step back. The only path to serenity."
—Tao Te Ching
"One real
world is enough."
— Santayana
"If a man
wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close is eyes and
walk in the dark."
—St. John of the Cross
"When I
hear I see, when I see I hear."
—Zen Koan
"f all the waves of the Zen
stream were alike, innumerable ordinary people would get bogged down."
- Zen saying
"A general
may establish peace, but it si not for the general to see peace."
— Zen
saying
"However
innumerable sentient beings, I vow to save them all. However
inexhaustible the passions, I vow to extinguish them all. However
immeasurable the dharmas, I vow to master them all. However incomparable
the Buddha’s truth, I vow to attain it."
— The four vows
"Your
treasure house is within; it contains all you’ll ever need."
— Hui-Hai
"The
perfect man employs his mind as a mirror."
— Chuang-Tzu
"We do not
understand that life is paradise, for it suffices only to wish to
understand it, and at once paradise will appear in front of us in its
beauty."
— Fyodor Dortoyevsky
"The Zen
master said, "Who binds you?" The seeker of liberty said, "No one binds
me." The Zen Master said, "Then why seek liberation?"
— Zen Mondo
"What the
poet is looking for is not the fundamental I but the deep you."
— Antonio
Machado
"There is
nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."
— William Shakespeare
"In the
end one only experiences oneself."
— Nietzsche
"Ears hear
and eyes see, then what does mind do?"
— Zen saying
"Nobody
sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time—we haven’t time—and to
see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."
— Georgia O’Keeffe
"O to be
delivered from the rational into the realm of pure song…"
-Theodore Roethke
"One sees
great things from the valley, only small things from the peak."
— G.K.
Chesterton
"You never
enhoy the world aright, till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till
you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned with the stars."
—Thomas Traherne
"There are
myriads of forms and hundreds of grasses throughout the entire earth,
yet each grass and each form itself is the entire earth."
— Dogen
"There is
not enough nothing in it."
— John Cage
"A
sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring
starts from within."
— Eudora Welty
"Fundamentally the marksman aims at himself."
— Zen in the Art of Archery
"If you
try to aim for it, you are turning away from it."
—Zen master
"Try and
be a sheet of paper with nothing on it. Be a spot of ground where
nothing is growing, where something might be planted, a seed possibly,
from the Absolute."
— Rumi
"No one
except a fish knows a fish’s heart, no one except a bird follows a
bird’s trace."
— Ancient saying
"He who
knows himself knows his Lord."
— Sufi Saying
"We shape
clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we
want."
—Tao Te Ching
"Do not
follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within
yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the
unity of all things."
— Dogen
"Where
people of today dwell, I do not dwell. What people of today do, I do not
do. If you clearly understand what this really means, you must be able
to enter a pit of fire with your whole body.
— Huang-Long
"There is
no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many
people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them
for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself."
— Herman Hesse
"Did you
have a happy childhood?" is a false question. As a child I did not know
what happiness was, and whether I was happy or not. I was too busy
being.
— Alistair Reid
"When
hungry, eat your rice; when tired, close your eyes. Fools may laugh at
me, but wise men will know what I mean."
— Lin Chi
"Mysticism
occurs whenever a human being sees the separation between the natural
and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, as overcome."
— Albert
Schweitzer
"When we
have seen Reality, there is not a grain of dust which has not a sublime
meaning."
- unknown
"In a dark
time, the eye begins to see."
—Theodore Roethke
"The more
you know the less you understand."
—Tao Te Ching
"When you
sit, there is the logic of when you sit. When you stand, there is the
logic of when you stand."
—Zen saying
"You must
neither strive for truth nor seek to lose your illusions."
—The Shodoka
Once the
governor of a province in ancient China spent several days in the
mountains with his Zen teacher. As he was getting ready to leave, the
master asked him, "When you return to the capital, how will you govern
your people?" "With compassion and wisdom," said the governor. "In that
case," said the master, "every last one of them will suffer."
— Zen story
"If you
want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against."
—Seng-Ts’an
"Being is
what it is."
—Jean Paul Sartre
"One
impulse from a vernal wood Mmy teach you more of man, of moral evil and
of good, than all the sages can."
—William Wordsworth
"Only
plain things have real taste."
—Zen saying
"The whole
world is a door of liberation, but people are unwilling to enter it."
—Hui-Wu
"Abandoning things is superior, pursuing them is inferior."
—Yen T’ou
"Unformed
people delight in the gaudy and in novelty. Cooked people delight in the
ordinary."
—Zen saying
"A great
man is he who does to lose his childlike heart."
— Mencius
A monk: "What is the fundamental teaching?" Yun-men: "No question, no answer."
"The
shortest answer is doing."
— George Herbert
"Time
itself is being. All being is time."
— Dogen
"Zen is a
way of liberation, concerned not with discovering what is good or bad or
advantageous, but what is."
— Alan Watts
"I know
all one can know when one knows nothing."
— Marguerite Duras
"If you
wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water."
— Bulgarian
proverb
"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not
get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great,
the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and
the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop."
— Dogen
"You say
that my poems are poetry. Well they are not, and until you understand
why they are not, you won’t see their poetry."
— Ryokan
"Even a
good thing isn’t as good as nothing."
— Zen saying
"Each
something is a celebration of the nothing that supports it."
— John Cage
"Let the
nothingness into yer shots."
— Golf in the Kingdom
"Picture a
massless particle."
— A Koan of Modern Physics
"I’d like
to offer something to help you But in the Zen School We don’t have a
single thing!"
— Ikkyu
"No
yesterday, no tomorrow, and no today."
— Seng-Ts’an
"Examine
the living words and not the dead ones.
— Zen saying
"Both
speech and silence transgress."
— Zen saying
"May the
universe in some strange sense be "brought into being" by the
participation of those who participate…The vital act is the act of
participation. "Participator" is the incontrovertible new concept given
by quantum mechanics. It strikes down the term "observer" of classical
theory, the man who stands safely behind the thick glass wall and
watches what goes on without taking part. It can’t be done."
—John Wheeler
"Abjure
the why and seek the how."
— Sir Richard Burton
"I have no
doctrine to give people—I just cure ailments and unlock fetters.
— Lin-Chi
"To
approach the teachings as a field of study is what is called turning
medicine into disease.
— Muso Kokushi
"The
"silly question" is the first intimation of some totally new
development.
— Alfred North Whitehead
"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
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
"A zendo
is not a peaceful haven, but a furnace room for the combustion of our
delusions."
— Eido Roshi
"The
reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly."
— G.K.
Chesterton
"Do not
think that Buddhas are other than you."
— Dogen
"A day
without work is a day without eating."
— Pai-chang
"Do not
permit the events of your daily life to bind you, but never withdraw
yourself from them."
— Zen saying
"Do not
permit the events of your daily life to bind you, but never withdraw
yourself from them."
—Zen saying
"Zen is
not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday
routine.
—Shunryu Suzuki
"Do not
think, do not imagine, do not analyze. Do not meditate, do not reflect.
Abide in the natural state."
—The Six Rules Of Tilopa
"I learn
by going where I have to go."
—Theodore Roethke
"We learn
something by doing it. There is no other way."
—John Holt
"Should
you desire the great tranquility, prepare to sweat white beads."
—Hakuin
"Great
faith. Great doubt. Great effort.
—The three qualities necessary for
training
An
ancient said, "The Way is always with people, but people themselves
chase after things."
— Fa-Yen
"There is
no beginning to practice or end to enlightenment, and there is no
beginning to enlightenment or end to practice."
— Dogen
"When the
student is ready, the Master appears."
— Buddhist proverb
"May you
live all the days of your life."
—Jonathan Swift
"Sometimes
I go about in pity for myself, and all the while a great wind is bearing
me across the sky."
— Ojibwa Saying
"Value
judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and
awareness."
— John Cage
"How
terrible to watch a man who has the Incomprehensible within his grasp,
doesn’t know what to do, and sits down playing with a toy called
God."
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"Extinguish pride as quickly as you would a fire."
— Herakleitos
"To be a
man of knowledge one needs to be light and fluid."
— Yanqui Mystic
"Where
there is great doubt, there will be great awakening; small doubt, small
awakening; no doubt, no awakening."
—Zen saying
"You are
lost the instant you know what the result will be."
—John Gris
"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
"We feel
and know that we are eternal."
— Spinoza
"The
believer is happy, the doubter wise."
— Greek proverb
"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
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