Martial Art Quotes

"The Time to strike is when the opportunity presents itself."
- 6th Code of Isshinryu Karatedo

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."
- Basho

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
- Ben Stein

"Every man dies... but not every man truly lives."
- Braveheart

"All knowledge, is ultimately, self knowledge."
- Bruce Lee

"I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself."
- Bruce Lee

"The point of the teachings is to control your own mind. Restrain your mind from greed, and you will keep your body right, your mind pure and your words faithful. Always thinking of the transience of your life, you will be able to desist from greed and anger and will be able to avoid all evils."
- Buddha (B.C. 568-488)

"Control your emotion or it will control you."
- Chinese Adage

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

"To hear is to forget, to see is to remember, to do is to understand."
- Chinese proverb

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class."
- Choi, Hong Hi (Founder of Taekwon-Do)

"Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious."
- Daisetsu Suzuki

"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

"An ounce of logic is worth a ton of tradition that has become obsolete through the weathering of time."
- Ed Parker

"He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position."
- Ed Parker

"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

"Traditionalists often study what is taught, not what there is to create."
- Ed Parker

"When pure knuckles meet pure flesh, that's pure Karate, no matter who executes it or whatever style is involved."
- Ed Parker

"One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."
- Elbert Hubbard

"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

"If you don't realize you can kill someone with a bokken, I don't want you using one in *MY* dojo..."
- Fredrick Lovret

"It should be easy to spot a black belt in a crowd, s/he should walk like a Marine on roller skates."
- Fredrick Lovret

"When in trouble or in doubt, cut down all who move about."
- Fredrick Lovret

"When we apply our Karate well, nothing is waste and nothing is withheld."
- George E Anderson

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

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

"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

"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)

"Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu.
Move quickly. Sound, calm mind. Be light in body. Have a clever mind. Master the basics."
- Gogen Yamaguchi

"A friend cannot be considered a friend unless he is tested on three occasions: in time of need, behind your back and after your death. "
- Hasrat Ali

"A greedy man will always find himself in the shackles of humility."
- Hasrat Ali

"Greed is permanent slavery."
- Hasrat Ali

"The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget."
- Hasrat Ali

"Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few sincere friends during his life and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them (through his deeds)."
- Hasrat Ali

"When some blessings come to you, do not drive them away through thanklessness."
- Hasrat Ali

"One mind, any weapon."
- Hunter B. Armstrong

"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)

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."
- Joe Paterno

"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming"
- John Wooden

"-Ow- is not a Kenpo word."
- Jonathan Vance

"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

"Where questioning is rewarded, virtues are promoted, respect is demanded, and love is central."
- L'abri

"A tree as big around as you can reach starts with a single acorn. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
- Lao-tzu

"Knowing others is intelligence; Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; Mastering yourself is true power."
- Lao-tzu

"An unwillingness to deal forcibly with violence does not equate to moral rectitude."
- Mary Malmros

"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die."
- Master Funakoshi

"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

"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

"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

"The sword has to be more than a simple weapon; it has to be an answer to life's questions."
- Miyamoto Musashi

"Even though surrounded By several enemies set to attack, Fight with the thought That they are but one."
- Morihei Ueshiba (O' Sensei)

"Master the divine techniques of the Art of Peace and no enemy will dare to challenge you."
- Morihei Ueshiba (O'Sensei)

"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 more you sweat in training, the less you will bleed in battle."
- Motto of Navy Seals

"It is not the accumulation of extraneous knowledge, but the realization of the self within, that constitutes true progress."
- Okakura Kakuzo

"Aikido is not a defensive martial art. Being defensive is a terrible way to go through life."
- Quote on a dojo wall

"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

"If you plant rice, rice grows, if you plant fear, fear grows."
- Sage Ronin

"The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life."
- Samurai Maxim

"To know and to act are one and the same."
- Samurai Maxim

"Never leave an enemy standing."
- Shaka Zulu, King of the Zulu Nation

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few."
- Shunryu Suzuki

"An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity, a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity."
- Sir Winston Churchill

"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 emptyhanded fighting techniques..."
- Special Forces (USA) manual ST 31-204

"Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay it's price."
- Sun Tzu

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

"When you are confronted with a problem, a challenge, or an important decision, first of all be calm like the still water."
- Tadashi Nakamora

"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 Others Is Wise. He Who Knows Himself Is Enlightened."
- Tao Te Ching

"Combine the body, mind and soul and it will be stronger than any man's fist."
- The Fighter

"If man look for revenge with karate, best he start digging two graves."
- The Karate Kid

"A journey of a thousand miles should begin with an itinerary...THEN a step.
No one should go anywhere if they don't know where they're going."
- Unknown

"A man who conquers others is strong. a man who conquers himself is mighty."
- Unknown

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

"A one sided martial artist is a blind martial artist."
- Unknown

"A violent man shall die a violent death!"
- Unknown

"Anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve!"
- Unknown

"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
- Unknown

"Do today what you want to be tomorrow."
- Unknown

"Find yourself first then you can find your place in your art."
- Unknown

"If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kick-boxing."
- Unknown

"In the course of achieving anything, nothing is more important than persistence."
- Unknown

"Life can be a conflict, but not a competition. It is not important to win, you must simply not lose."
- Unknown

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end, It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it."
- Unknown

"Look beyond your fist and you will see your fate."
- Unknown

"Martial Arts is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off until you stop pedaling."
- Unknown

"Minds are like parachutes. They work best when they are open."
- Unknown

"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."
- Unknown

"Only those who risk going too far will ever know how far they can go."
- Unknown

"Perfection is not an Accident."
- Unknown

"Practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."
- Unknown

"Success is like a turtle climbing a mountain, failure is like water falling down a hill."
- Unknown

"The best way to kill time is to work it to death."
- Unknown

"The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement."
- Unknown

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."
- Unknown

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

"The finest blade stays in the Saya."
- Unknown

"The most important thing is this: To sacrifice what we are for what we can become!"
- Unknown

"The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer."
- Unknown

"The true test of integrity is getting caught doing what you said you would do when you thought no one was looking."
- Unknown

"The Ultimate Warrior Leaves No Openings - Except In His Mind."
- Unknown

"There are times where you must fight to live; but you should never live to fight."
- Unknown

"There are two rules for being successful in Martial Arts.
Rule 1: Never tell others everything you know."
- Unknown

"Truth is universal. Perception of truth is not."
- Unknown

"You haven't failed until you quit trying."
- Unknown

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
- Ursula K. Le Guin

"Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit alone is not enough."
- Yamada Jirokichi

"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

"In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble."
- Yun-men