Thoughts by Bruce Lee Quotes in English Life Love Quotations

I wish neither to possess nor to be possessed. I no longer covet ‘paradise’. More important, I no longer fear ‘hell’. The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning but I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it, until this moment. Now I see that I will never find the light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel, consuming myself.

In a time when everything goes well, my mind is pampered with enjoyment, possessiveness, etc. Only in times of adversity, privation, or mishap, does my mind function and think properly of my state. This close examination of self strengthens my mind and leads me to understand and be understood.

In ordinary life wu-wei is expressed in “producing and rearing things without taking possession of them” and “doing work but not taking pride in it” – thus the natural “way” stands in complement to all artificial ways such as regulation, ceremonies, etc. This is the reason why the Taoists don’t like formalities and artificialities.

Recognizing the influence of my subconscious mind over my power of will, I shall take care to submit to it a clear and definite picture of my Major Purpose in life and all minor purposes leading to my major purpose, and I shall keep this picture constantly before my subconscious mind by repeating it daily.

A teacher, a good teacher that is, functions as a pointer to truth, but not a giver of truth. He employs a minimum of form to lead his student to the formless. Furthermore, he points out the importance of being able to enter a mold without being imprisoned by it, or to follow the principles without being bound by them.

Right now I can project my thoughts into the future. I can see ahead of me. I dream (remember that practical dreamers never quit). I may now own nothing but a little place down in a basement, but once my imagination has got up a full head of stream, I can see painted on a canvas on my mind a picture of a fine, big fix or six story Gung Fun Institute with branches all over the States…

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.

A self-willed man has no other aim than his own growth. He values only one thing, the mysterious power in himself which bids him live and helps him to grow. His only living destiny is the silent, ungainsayable law in his own heart, which comfortable habits make it so hard to obey but which to the self-willed man is destiny and godhead.

Intelligence is the understanding of self.

Whatever your problems happen to be in the future, remember well that they cannot remain stationary but must move together with your living spirit. Otherwise, you will drift into artificiality or attempt to solidify the ever-flowing. To avoid that, you must change and be flexible. Remember, the usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness.

Nothing exists except the here and now.

Faith backed by action is applied faith.

It is later than you think! Know yourself!

Do not precede others, always follow them.

A purpose is the eternal condition of success.

To change with change is the changeless state.

The possession of anything begins in the mind.

There is no weapon more deadly than the will.

Be flexible so you can change with change.

Failure is what your mind acknowledges.

Be a practical dreamer backed by action.

The inability to adapt brings destruction.

In the middle of chaos lies opportunity.

There is intelligence when you are not afraid.

The true stillness is the stillness in movement.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

Be “self-aware” rather than a repetitious robot.

No man is defeated unless he is discouraged.

To refuse to be cast down, that is the lesson.

I’ll not willingly offend, nor be easily offended.

Education consists in cultivation of intelligence.

Education: to discover but not merely to imitate.

It’s not what you give, it’s the way you give it.

Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.

There is a difference: the world, our reaction to it.

One great cause of failure is lack on concentration.

Obey the principles without being bound by them.

A person cannot forget someone who is good to them.

Thoughts backed by faith will overcome all obstacles.

Meditation is the freeing of the mind from all motives.

A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.

The law of averages: put in more, come out with more.

When one is not “expressing” himself, he is not free.

Right conduct is governed by reason and creativity.

Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.

Realize the fact that you simply “live” and not “live for”.

One must always strive to be better. The sky’s the limit.

Simplicity is the last step of art and the beginning of nature.

The spiritual power of man’s will removes all obstacles.

Emotions – the most important motors of our behavior.

Concentration is the root of all the higher abilities in man.

All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.

Every man today is the result of his thoughts of yesterday.

It’s the will that makes men - success takes perseverance.

Unquestionably man has his will - but woman has her way!

The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.

You know how I like to think of myself? As a human being.

Art must originate with an experience or feeling of the artist.

When a man seeks your advice he generally wants your praise.

Ever since I was a kid, the word “quality” has meant a lot to me.

Keep your mind on the things you want and off those you don’t.

Freedom lies in understanding yourself from moment to moment.

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.

To understand your fear is the beginning of really seeing.

An idea, by itself, it not erroneous but judgment makes it.

A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.

My style? You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

I don’t want to do anything half way; it as to be perfect.

If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.

We can see through others only when we see through ourselves.

Happiness is good for the body, but sorrow strengthens to spirit.

Art demands only immediate, honest and whole-hearted action.

The essence of fighting is the art of moving at the right time.

Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain.

The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the world without.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.

Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality in your own mind.

Pleasure is the flower that fades, remembrance is the lasting perfume.

What’s amiss I’ll stop to mend, and endure what can’t be mended.

The usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness. Emptiness = Totality.

Success means doing something sincerely and whole-heartedly.

Be proficient in your field as well as in harmony among fellow men.

I don’t drink nor smoke and those events are many times senseless.

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.

I think when a couple marry, they either go into heaven or live in hell.

If every man would help his neighbor, no man would be without help.

If all the religions were one, the world would be united in brotherhood.

Each man must seek out realization himself. No master can give it to him.

If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the anticipation of suffering.

Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.

Shut down all forms of distraction. Eliminate all opportunities for rivalry.

I will never prostitute myself in any way that I do what I don’t believe in.

Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

What is real is seeing the truth instantaneously, because truth has no future.

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.

Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.

Preserve yourself by following the natural bends of things and don’t interfere.

What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become.

Empty yourself! Open up! After all, the usefulness of a cup is in its emptiness.

If you want to do your duty properly, you should do just a little more than that.

Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

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Be water, my friend.

Part 1. Be like water; water has form and yet it has no form. It is the softest element on earth, yet it penetrates the hardest rock. Part 2. It has no shape of its own, yet it can take any shape in which it is placed. Part 3. In a cup, it becomes the shape of the cup. In a vase, it takes the shape of the vase and curls about the stems of flowers. Put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

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Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.

Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.

Life is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.

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Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

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Life is wise, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.

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Life is something for which there is no answer; it must be understood from moment to moment.

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Life is simply what our feelings do to us.

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Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.

Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.

False teachers of the Way of life use flowery words.

You will never get any more out of life than you expect.

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

Art is an expression of life and transcends both time and space.

Only actions give to life its strength, as only moderation gives it its charm.

To strive actively to achieve some goal gives your life meaning and substance.

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.

If you knew you had to fight for your life tomorrow, would you change your training today?

Remember my friend to enjoy your planning as well as your accomplishment, for life is too short for negative energy.

Since life is an ever-evolving process, one should flow in this process and discover how to actualize and expand oneself.

You can never step in the same river twice, my friend. Like flowing water, life is perpetual movement. There is nothing fixed.

Art is the way of the Absolute and to the essence of human life – creative action, with sensitivity, that positive state of innocence.

Art is the perfection of nature and life through the artist, who has supreme control of technique and is thereby liberated from it.

The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a pattern of systems.

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.

A simple life is one of plainness, in which profit is discarded, cleverness abandoned, selfishness eliminated, and desires reduced.

I am constantly discovering, expanding, finding the cause of my ignorance, in martial art and especially in life. In short, to be real…

What does self-willed mean? Hell, isn’t it knowing above all, that, indeed, one is the captain of one’s soul, the master of one’s life?

Those who distrust the life-giving force within them, or who have none, are driven to compensate through such substitutes as money.

Living exists when life lives through us – unhampered in its flow, for he who is living is not conscious of living and, in this, is the life it lives.

He who wants to succeed should learn how to fight, to strive, and to suffer. You can acquire a lot in life, if you are prepared to give up a lot to get it.

Only sober moderation lasts, and that persists through all time. Only the midpart of anything is preserved because the pendulum of life must have balance, and the midpart is the balance.

Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie.

All in all, the goal of my planning and doing is to find the true meaning of life – peace of mind. In order to achieve this peace of mind, the teaching of detachment of Taoism and Zen proved to be valuable.

Life is never stagnation. It is a constant movement, unrhythmic movement, as well as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.

Go bravely on, my friend, because each experience teaches us a lesson. Keep blasting because life is such that sometimes it is nice and sometimes it is not.

I have no religion whatsoever. I believe that life is a process and that man is a self-made product. The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.

Life is an ever-flowing process and somewhere on the path some unpleasant things will pop up – it might leave a scar, but then life is flowing, and life running water, when it stops it grows stale.

Concentration is a narrowing down of the mind – but we are concerned with the total process of living, and to concentrate exclusively on any particular aspect of life, belittles life.

We realize that manipulation and control are not the ultimate joy of life – to become real, to learn to take a stand, to develop one’s center, to the support of our total personality, a release to spontaneity – yes, yes, yes!

It is the life of perfection which seems to be incomplete, and of fullness which seems to be empty. It is the life which is as bright as light, but does not dazzle. In short, it is a life of harmony, unity, contentment, tranquility, constancy, enlightenment, peace, and long life.

Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.

Life lives; and in the living flow, no questions are raised. The reason is that life is a living now! So, in order to live life whole-heartedly, the answer is life simply is.

Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

Love is a egotism of two.

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Without respect, love cannot go long.

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Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.

Love, and you shall be loved - all love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.

I did love like a madman, but have enough sense to not love as a fool.

I’m not one of those who believe in love at first sight, but I believe in taking a second look.

If anyone still believes in racial differences, I think he is too backward and narrow. Perhaps he still does not understand man’s equality and love.

Young love is a flame: very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

Time means a lot to me because, you see, I, too, am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing and simplifying. If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

Many young couples live a very exciting life when they are in love. So, when they marry, and their lives are reduced to calmness and dullness, they will feel impatient and will drink the bitter cup of sad marriage.

Yesterday’s dreams are often tomorrow’s realities.

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I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.

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The more we value things, the less we value ourselves.

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Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.

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The best techniques are the simple ones executed right.

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Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.

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Your mind is the result of a thousand yesterdays.

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The poorer we are inwardly, the more we try to enrich ourselves outwardly.

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Be a calm beholder of what is happening around you.

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No one can hurt you unless you allow him to.

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As you think, so shall you become.

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What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.

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This achieving the center, being grounded in one’s self, is about the highest state a human being can achieve.

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The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation.

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Not “what” to think but “how” to think.

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It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

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Those who gain, lose.

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The doer alone learns.

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Boards don’t hit back.

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It is not how much you have learned, but how much you have absorbed in what you have learned.

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Faith without work is death.

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The inner self is the true self.

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Don’t strive to become, but be.

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Real living is living for others.

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Art is communication of feelings.

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Simplicity is the key to brilliance.

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Self-education makes great men.

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The essence: free movement of spirit.

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If you are in the now, you are inventive.

If you are in the now, you are creative.

The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.

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Self-will seems to be the only virtue that takes no account of man-made laws.

Growth is the constant discovery and understanding in one’s process of living.

There is no such thing as defeat until you admit so yourself, but not until then!

Learning techniques without inward experiencing can only lead to superficiality.

Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

One must not merely copy but try to convey the significance of what you see.

Stupidity assumes two forms, it speaks or is silent. Mute stupidity is bearable.

The human soul is what interests me. I live to express myself freely in creation.

Only the self-sufficient stand alone – most people follow the crowd and imitate.

Logic’s central problem is the distinction between correct and incorrect argument.

If you make an ass out of yourself, there’ll always be someone ready to ride you.

If you don’t aim at an object, how the heck on earth do you think you can get it?

Ideas are the beginning of all achievement – in every industry, in every profession.

Open yourself and flow, my friend. Flow in the total openness of the living moment.

There is no need to exert oneself in special cultivation outside the daily round of living.

Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.

A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.

Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.

When tomorrow comes, you must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.

Art is never decoration or embellishment. Instead it is a constant process of maturing.

Sorrows are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope.

It is the creative ability of a human being that separates him from all other animals.

To be perfectly frank, I really do not believe in God. If there is a God, he is within.

There will be calmness when one is free from external objects and is not perturbed.

I cannot and will not “scoff” at faith when reason seems to be such a barren thing.

Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.

Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man’s mind can conceive and believe.

To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself; that, my friend, is very hard to do.

The way to bring back the dream is to relive the dream as if it were happening now.

Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.

We do not see “it” in its suchness because of our indoctrination, crooked and twisted.

I really dig exercise. When I’m jogging early in the morning, boy! It’s sure refreshing.

A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.

Take no thought of who is right or wrong, or who is better than. Be not for or against.

I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Remember my friend that it is not what happens that counts, it is how you react to them.

Nobility of character manifests itself at loopholes when it is not provided with large doors.

Let friendship creep gently to a height; if it rushes to it, it may soon run itself out of breath.

Awakening, self-realization, and seeing into one’s own being – these are synonymous.

What I detest most are dishonest people who talk more than they are capable of doing.

Do not seek “it”, for it will come when least expected. Let go. Don’t seek or run away.

Wait in the calm strength of patience – he that is strong should guard it with tenderness.

What is the point of education if you in yourself are not intelligent? If you are not creative?

Thoughts are things, in the sense that thought can be translated into its physical equivalent.

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.

Masters in all branches of art must first be masters in living, for the soul creates everything.

In all things, it is important to forget your “mind” and become one with the work at hand.

The more we understand, the greater and deeper will be our contact with all that is around us.

Faith is a state of mind that can be conditioned through self-discipline. Faith will accomplish.

Your mental attitude determines what you make of it, either a stepping stone or stumbling block.

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

Sharpen the psychic power of seeing in order to act immediately in accordance with what it sees.

Remember, success is a journey, not a destination. Have faith in your ability. You will do just fine.

For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.

Humility forms the basis of honor, just as the low ground forms the foundation of a high elevation.

There can be no initiative if one has fear, and fear compels us to cling to tradition, gurus, etc.

The enemy of development is this pain phobia – the unwillingness to do a tiny bit of suffering.

Marriage is a friendship, a partnership based solidly upon ordinary, everyday occurrences.

The moment we stop analyzing and let go, we can start really seeing, feeling – as one whole.

Learning is never cumulative, it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.

Art, after all, is a means of acquiring “personal” liberty. Your way is not my way nor mine yours.

The source of trouble in religion is to attribute to the cause with doctrines, rules, and prejudices.

I don’t like to wear stuffy clothes and be at places where everyone is trying to impress each other.

I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.

To be humble to superiors is duty; to equals is courtesy; to inferiors is nobleness; and to all, safety!

Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.

Stand at the neutral point between negative and positive, no longer directing one’s mind to anything.

There is “what is” only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful.

While we are still alive, we have to discover ourselves, understand ourselves, and express ourselves.

If he knows how to meet fate with an attitude of acceptance, he is sure to find the right guidance.

It is not his task to try to lead – that would only make him lose the Way – but to let himself be led.

Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.

Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

Only eat what your body requires, and don’t become carried away with foods that don’t benefit you.

Completeness, the now, is an absence of the conscious mind to strive to divide that which is indivisible.

As for the future, that is a time and a place where every worthy ambition you posses is within your grasp.

All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.

Look for ways to raise the pupil’s mind above duality, to the absolute awareness which transcends it.

“A man is literally what he thinks”. This might be a shocking statement, but everything is a state of mind.

I dare not say that I have reached any state of achievement. I’m still learning, for learning is boundless.

The Dominicans have the simplicity of a real human being; there is not so hypocrisy like in the big cities.

The point to be made about ego is that man should use his ego and not be used by ego or blinded by it.

Don’t think – feel. Feeling exists here and now when not interrupted and dissected by ideas or concepts.

One should do nothing that is not natural or spontaneous; the important thing is not to strain in any way.

Truth cannot be structured or confined. When there is no center and no circumference, then there is truth.

If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.

True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare. False friends are like autumn leaves, found everywhere.

The round of summer and winter becomes a blessing the moment we give up the fantasy of eternal spring.

The mind must be wide open in order to function freely in thought. For a limited mind cannot think freely.

A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself.

I am improving and making new discoveries every day. If you don’t you are already crystallized and that’s it.

If you think a thing is impossible, you’ll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.

Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts, all problems are brought into existence - drop them.

If I tell you I’m good, probably you will say I’m boasting. But if I tell you I’m not good, you’ll know I’m lying.

The true artist has no public; he works for the sheer joy of it, with an element of playfulness, of casualness.

The important thing is that I am personally satisfied with my work. If it is a piece of junk, I will only regret it.

When you are awake, you must be fully awake and conscious about everything. This is a wonderful exercise.

But then, how important is school? I barely made passing grades while attending the University of Washington.

You cannot hurt that which is formless. The softest thing cannot be snapped and emptiness cannot be confined.

Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book.

Art lives where absolute freedom is, because where it is not, there can be no creativity – art has no ego rigidity.

Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book.

The important thing for you is to be alert, to question, to find out, so that your own initiative may be awakened.

If there is a God, he is within. You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.

Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.

This world is very practical. You do more work, you get rewarded more; you do less work, you lose your rewards.

Through art our own souls are what we must employ to give a new form and a new meaning to Nature or the world.

A good teacher cannot be fixed in a routine. He must not impose his student to fit a lifeless pattern, a preformulation.

What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge.

Artists in all fields must learn to observe choicelessly, to digest their observations, and to express them in their work.

Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere.

The subconscious mind favors thoughts inspired by emotional feelings. It also gives preference to dominating thoughts.

We all have time to either spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

I don’t know what is the meaning of death, but I am not afraid to die – and I go on, non-stop, going forward.

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.

Being able to find the correct conduct for a special situation is happiness – not a strict standard for every situation.

Loneliness is only an opportunity to cut adrift and find yourself. In solitude you are least alone. Make good use of it.

With every adversity comes a blessing because a shock acts as a reminder to oneself that we must not get stale in routine.

The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.

It is not daily increase but daily decrease – hack away the unessential! The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.

Choiceless awareness – do not condemn, do not justify. Awareness works only if it’s allowed free play without interference. *

Without frustration you will not discover that you might be able to do something on your own. We grow through conflict.

True observation begins when one is devoid of set patterns; freedom of expression occurs when one is beyond system.

Most people can talk without listening. Very few can listen without talking. It is very rare that people can talk and listen.

Are you a flowing entity, capable to flow with external circumstances, or are you resisting with your set choice pattern?

With adversity you are shocked to higher levels, much like a rain storm that is so violent, but yet afterwards all plant grows.

My will to do springs from the knowledge that I can do. I’m only being natural, for there is no fear or doubt inside my mind.

Persistence, persistence, and persistence. The power can be created and maintained through daily practice – continuous effort.

Do think of the past in terms of those memories of events and accomplishments which were pleasant, rewarding, and satisfying.

Don’t be forecasting evil unless it is what you can guard against. Anxiety is good for nothing if we can’t turn it into a defense.

To doubt is to think, and thought is the only thing in the universe whose existence cannot be denied, because to deny is to think.

When you are in the now, you can’t be anxious, because the excitement flows immediately into ongoing spontaneous activity.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

I can walk away from millions because it’s not right, but I’ll be damned if I’ll back up an inch from a dime because it has to be so.

Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty.

I couldn’t go wrong because what I always like about myself is this stickability toward quality and the sincere desire to do it right.

Knowledge is of the past; learning is in the present, a constant movement, in relationship with the outward things, without the past.

Man is constantly growing, and when he is bound by a set pattern of ideas, or “way” of doing things, that’s when he stops growing.

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.

Remember never to assert your self against nature; never be in frontal opposition to any problems, but to control it by swinging with it.

Learning is important but do not become its slave. Above all, do not harbor anything external and superfluous, the mind is the primary.

The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.

The main thing is not to expend one’s powers prematurely in an attempt to obtain by force something for which the time is not yet ripe.

Give recognition where it is due. Complements definitely stimulate more effort and desire to improve. Be generous with honest praising.

Prosperity is apt to prevent us from examining our conduct; but adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is beneficial to us.

Empty your mind. You know how water fills a cup? It becomes that cup. You have to think about nothing. You have to become nothing.

To live is to express, and to express you have to create. Creation is never merely repetition. To live is to express oneself freely in creation.

The past is no more, the future is not yet. “Now” includes the balance of being here, experiencing, involvement, phenomenon, awareness.

Head toward self-expression and self-actualization and not just a means of mediocre functioning or repetitious drilling on a chosen pattern.

Drop and dissolve inner blockage. A conditioned mind is never a free mind. Wipe away and dissolve all its experience and be “born afresh”.

People have to grow by skillful frustrations, otherwise they have no incentive to develop their own means and ways of coping with the world.

I’m not one of those guys that can brush people off. Besides, I feel that if I can just take a second to make someone happy, why not do it?

Recognize and use the spiritual power of the infinite. The intangible represents the real power of the universe. It is the seed of the tangible.

Do not have an attitude, open yourself and focus yourself and express yourself. Reject external form that fails to express internal reality.

Not conviction, not method, but perception is the way of truth. It is a state of effortless awareness, pliable awareness, choiceless awareness.

If you want to truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between “for” and “against” is the mind’s worst disease.

The superior man lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the situation what is demanded of him and then follows.

The measure of the moral worth of a man is his happiness. The better the man, the more happiness. Happiness is the synonym of well-being.

Let things be what they are, move like water, rest like a mirror, respond like an echo, pass quickly like the nonexistent, and be quiet as purity.

Please observe the adaptability of water. If you squeeze it fast, the water will flow out quickly. If you squeeze it slowly, it will come out slowly.

I never wanted a job in an office or any job that I had to work eight hours a day at – day in and day out. I don’t think I could have stood it.

I am not easily discouraged, readily visualize myself as overcoming obstacles, winning out over set backs, achieving “impossible” objectives.

To be on the alert means to be deadly serious; to be deadly serious means to be sincere to oneself, and it is sincerity that finally leads to the Way.

The moment is freedom. I couldn’t live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them.

Jogging is not only a form of exercise to me, it is also a form of relaxation. It is my own hour every morning when I can be alone with my thoughts.

The function and duty of a human being, a “quality” human being, that is, is the sincere and honest development of potential and self-actualization.

Marriage is caring for children, watching over them in sickness, training them in the way they must go, sharing worry about them and pride in them.

What I honestly value more than anything else is quality: doing one’s best in the manner of the responsibility and craftsmanship of a Number One.

The present? Well, think of it in terms of challenges and opportunities, and the rewards available for the application of your talents and energies.

We are always in a process of becoming and nothing is fixed. Have no rigid system in you, and you’ll be flexible to change with the ever changing.

That of not being tense but ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being rigidly set but flexible. Aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.

Mind is an ultimate reality which is aware of itself and is not the seat of our empirical consciousness – by “being” mind instead of “having” mind.

Part 1. Here is natural instinct, and there is control. You are to combine the two in harmony. If you have one to the extreme you will be very unscientific; if you have another to the extreme, you become a mechanical man, no longer human being.

Part 2. So it is a successful combination of both. It is not pure naturalness, or pure unnaturalness. The ideal is unnatural naturalness or natural unnaturalness.

Part 1. The Chinese conceived the entire universe as activated by two principles, the Yang and the Yin, the positive and the negative, and they considered that nothing that exists, either animate or so-called inanimate, does so except by virtue of the ceaseless interplay of these two forces.

Part 2. Matter and energy, Yang and Yin, heaven and earth, are conceived of as essentially one or as two coexistent poles of one indivisible whole.

Part 1. Serene, detached from all results, ready to fight or run, to win or lose, and always ready to laugh at all things, take whatever comes.

Part 2. Your child is ill you say, or you cannot pay the rent? Very well, accept these facts and face them.

Part 3. Are they not trouble enough in themselves without adding the aggravation of worry to them?

Part 1. Above all, a teacher does not depend on a method and drill systematic routines; instead, he studies each individual student and awakens him to explore himself, both internally and externally, and ultimately integrate himself with his being.

Part 2. Such teaching, which is really no teaching, requires a sensitive mind with great flexibility and is difficult to come by nowadays.

Part 1. Remember, I am no teacher; I can merely be a signpost for a traveler who is lost. It is up to you to decide on the direction.

Part 2. All I can offer is an experience but never a conclusion, so even what I have said needs to be thoroughly examined by you.

Part 3. I might be able to help you to discover and examine your problem by awakening your awareness of their cause and effect, but I cannot teach you, for I am not a teacher, and I have no style.

Part 4. I don’t believe in system, nor in method. And without system, without method, what’s to teach?

Part 1. I never believe in large organizations, with their domestic and foreign branches, affiliations, etc.

Part 2. To reach the masses, some sort of a system is required; as a result, the members are conditioned according to that system.

Part 3. I believe in teaching just a few, as it requires constant alert observations on each individual in order to establish a true, direct relationship.

Part 1. Whether it is the godhead or not, I feel this great force, this untapped power, this dynamic something within me.

Part 2. This feeling defies description, and there is no experience with which this feeling may be compared. It is something like a strong emotion mixed with faith, but a lot stronger.

Part 1. There is fear and insecurity in pride, for when one aims at being highly esteemed, and having achieved such status, he is automatically involved in the fear of losing one’s status.

Part 2. Then protection of his status appears to be his most important need, and this creates anxiety.

Part 1. We should devote ourselves to being self-sufficient and must not depend upon the external rating by others for our happiness.

Part 2. So it is true that the more we values things, the less we value our self. The more we depend upon others for esteem, the less we are self-sufficient.

Part 1. Oftentimes business people see not a human being but a product, a commodity. However, you, as a human being, have the right to be the best goddamn product that ever walked and work so hard that the business people have to listen to you.

Part 2. You have that personal obligation to yourself to make yourself the best product possible according to your own terms.

Part 3. Not the biggest or the most successful, but the best quality – with that achieved, comes everything else.

The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or in defeat.

The method for health promotion is based on water, as flowing water never grows stale. The idea is not to overdevelop or to overexert, but to normalize the function of the body.

Behind every motion is the music of his soul made visible. Otherwise empty motion is like an empty word; no meaning. Postures without proper channeling of your emotions behind them are dead movements.

One who is possessed by worry not only lacks the poise to solve his own problems, but by his nervousness and irritability creates additional problems for those around him.

To realize that it’s just an inconvenience, that it is not a catastrophe, but just an unpleasantness, is part of coming into your own, part of waking up.

Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem. Where it is open, all energies flow toward it. It comes readily to most people, and its rewards are tangible.

Art is really the expression of the self. The more complicated and restricted the method, the less the opportunity for the expression of one’s original sense of freedom.

Instead of buying your children all the things you never had, you should teach them all the things you were never taught. Material wears out but knowledge stays.

Just watch choicelessly and in the watching lies the wonder. It is not an ideal, an end to be desired. The watching is a state of “being” already, not a state of “becoming”.

Reality is apparent when one ceases to compare. There is “what is” only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful.

No accidents are so unlucky but that the wise may draw some advantage from them; nor are there any so lucky but that the foolish may turn them to their own prejudice.

When my tutor assisted me in choosing my courses, he advised me to take up philosophy because of my inquisitiveness. He said, “philosophy will tell you what man lives for”.

Joy and suffering are the fruit of right and wrong thinking. Suffering, especially, is mostly self-manufactured; we are never so happy or so unhappy as we suppose.

The mark of genius is the capacity to see and to express what is simple, simply! The really great Zen artist states the utmost in the minimum of lines or effort.

A concentrated mind is not an attentive mind, but a mind that is in a state of awareness can concentrate. Awareness is never exclusive, it includes everything.

Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.

I’m not the type of guy who can sit in the office doing the same routine day in and day out. I have to do something that is creative and interesting to me.

Choose the positive. You have choice, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success.

My wife and I aren’t one and one. We are two halves that make a whole. You have to apply yourself to be a family – two halves fitted together are more efficient than either half would ever be alone!

Gather materials. Masticate the facts. Relax and drop the whole subject. Be ready to recognize and welcome the idea when it comes. Shape and develop your idea into usefulness.

In Buddhism there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water, and when you’re tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.

Are you doing to make your obstacles stepping stones to your dreams, or stumbling blocks because unknowingly you let negativeness, worries, fear, etc., take you over?

Just as the maintaining of good health may require the taking of unpleasant medicine, so the condition of being able to do the things we enjoy often requires the performance of a few we don’t.

The more and more you are aware, the more and more you shed from day to day what you have learned so that your mind is always fresh, uncontaminated by previous conditioning.

I believe that anybody can think himself into his goal if he mixes thought with definiteness of purpose, persistence; and a burning desire for its translation into reality.

It is the ego that stands rigidly against things coming from the outside, and it is this “ego rigidity” that makes it impossible for us to accept everything that confronts us.

The fact is that we live only on such a small percentage of our potential: you do not allow yourself to be totally yourself, society does not allow you to be totally yourself.

I believe a couple should develop a kind of friendship. Linda and I have this kind of friendship. We understand each other, like a pair of good friends.

Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win. But never to accept the way to lose. To accept defeat – to learn to die – is be liberated from it.

At this moment stop inwardly - when you do stop inwardly, psychologically, your mind becomes very peaceful, very clear. Then you can really look at “this”.

Real knowledge breeds “body feel” and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.

One should get rid of this obtruding self – or ego-consciousness – and apply himself to the work to be done as if nothing particular were taking place at the moment.

There is nothing that will enable you to pursue your course in greater peace than the patient bearing of insult. Patience is not passive, on the contrary it is concentrated strength.

Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one’s bodily. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.

Anxiety is the gap between the “now” and the “then”. SO if you are in the “now”, you can’t be anxious, because your excitement flows immediately into ongoing spontaneous activity.

Opportunities may come your way or they may not. Luck may come your way or it may not. But if they come your way - and you call that luck - you’d better be ready for it!

The doubters said, ‘Man can not fly,’ The doers said, ‘Maybe, but we’ll try,’ And finally soared In the morning glow While non-believers Watched from below.

Don’t be in a hurry to “fix” things; rather, enrich your understanding in the ever-going process of discovery and finding more the cause of your ignorance.

Those who are materialistic still hold onto the ego as though it were a possession, rather than using it as a tool. Inwardly, psychologically, be a nobody.

I like light rain. It gives one such a sense of calmness and tranquility. I enjoy walking in the rain. But most of all, I like books. I read all types of books – fiction and nonfiction.

The waters are in motion all the time, but the moon retains its serenity. The mind moves in response to the ten thousand situations but remains ever the same.

An intelligent mind is one which is constantly learning, never concluding – styles and patterns have come to conclusion, therefore they have ceased to be intelligent.

The knowledge and skill you have achieved are after all meant to be “forgotten” so you can float in emptiness without obstruction and comfortably.

When one wishes to expand, one must first contract. When one wishes to be strong, one must first be weak. When one wishes to take, one must first give. Everything in this world has the alternative of existence and nonexistence

A child must be taught early that money is only a means, a type of usefulness, an implement. Like all instruments, it has certain purposes, but it will not do everything. One must learn how to use it, what it will do, but above all what it will not do.

I will play with my children and joke with my children, but business is business. When the subject is a serious one, you don’t go around trying to keep from hurting their feelings. You say what must be said and set the rules which must be set without worrying about whether they like it or not.

Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.

Even though I, Bruce Lee, may die some day without fulfilling all of my ambitions, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do and what I’ve done, I’ve done with sincerity and to the best of my ability.

I’m not a smoker because I don’t think putting smoke into your body is quite the thing to do. As for alcohol, I think it tastes awful. Don’t know why anyone should want to drink the stuff.

The power of will is the supreme court over all other departments of my mind. I will exercise it daily when I need the urge to action for any purpose, and I will form habits designed to bring the power of my will into action at least once daily.

Realizing that my emotions are both positive and negative, I will form daily habits which will encourage the development of the positive emotions and aid me in converting the negative emotions into some form of useful action.

Some people fight with others because they believe in different religions. If, however, they only gave the matter a bit of thought, they would never fight for such a foolish cause.

Mans’s mind and his behavior are one, his inner thought and outer expression cannot contradict each other. Therefore a man should set up his right principle, and this right mind (principle) will influence his action.

Bear in mind that I seek neither your approval nor to influence you. So do not make up your mind as to “this is this” or “that is that”. I will be more than satisfied if you begin to learn to investigate everything yourself from now on.

To me, defeat is anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth.

Character is to the soul what outward appearances is to the body. A man’s genuineness and refinement should not reveal themselves directly; they should express themselves only indirectly as an effect from within.

Do not hold to what you have. It is like a ferry boat for people who want to get across waters. Once you have got across, never bear it on your back. You should head forward.

To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.

To bring the mind into sharp focus and to make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere, the mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought process, and even ordinary thought itself.

Basically, human traits are the same everywhere. I don’t want to sound like “As Confucius say” but under the sky, under the heavens, there is but one family.

I, Bruce Lee, am a man who never follows there formulas of the fear-mongers. So, no matter if your color is black or white, red or blue, I can still make friends with you without any barrier.

To many, the word “success” seems to be a paradise, but now that I’m in the midst of it, it is nothing but circumstances that seem to complicate my innate feeling toward simplicity and privacy.

Faith can be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind through the principle of autosuggestion. This is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.

There is no such word as “maturity”. Rather: maturing. Because when there is a maturity, there is a conclusion and a cessation. That’s “the end”. That’s when the coffin is closed.

To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. Die continually to every gained experience – be in a state of choiceless awareness of what is.

Can you neither condemn nor justify and yet be extraordinarily alive as you walk on? You can never invite the wind, but you must leave the window open.

All thought is partial, is can never be total. Thought is the response of memory, and memory is always partial, because memory is the result of experience; so thought is the reaction of a mind which is conditioned by experience.

Any idea that is constantly held in the mind and emotionalized, begins at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical form that is available.

It is a fact that labor and thrift produce a competence, but fortune, in the sense of wealth, is the reward of the man who can think of something that hasn’t been thought of before.

A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence. It is easy to teach one to be skillful, but it is difficult to teach him his own attitude. Each moment during teaching requires a full alert and sensitive mind that is constantly adjusting and constantly changing.

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.

Here now, forever more our lives must part. My path leads there and yours another way; I know not where tomorrow’s path may lead, nor what the future holds.

An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. It is not satisfied with explanations, with conclusions; nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another form of conclusion.

It is a well-known fact that one comes, finally, to believe whatever one repeats to one’s self, whether the statement be true or false. If a man repeats a lie over and over, he will eventually accept the lie as truth.

The happiness that is derived from ordinary life last longer; like coal, it burns gradually and slowly. The happiness that is derived from excitement is like a brilliant fire - soon it will go out.

Sincere and serious learners are difficult to come by. Many of them are five minute enthusiasts, some of them come in with ill intentions, but unfortunately, most of them are second-hand artists; basically conformers.

Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.

My only sure reward is “in” my actions and not “from” them. The quality of my reward is in the depth of my response, the centralness of the part of me I act from.

There is an awareness without choice, without any demand, an awareness in which there is no anxiety; and in that state of mind there is perception. It is the perception alone that will resolve all your problems.

It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to ask when you’re being knocked down, “Why am I being knocked down?” If a person can reflect in this way, then there is hope for this person.

Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will become clear of itself. Who is there that can secure a state of absolute repose? But keep calm and let time go on, and the state of repose will gradually arrest.

I no longer cover paradise. More important, I no longer fear hell. If you ask me what I will be in heaven, I will say this: Why should I think about something so far away when there are so many things in this life I have not finished learning about?

Intensity and/or enthusiasm is this god within us – one that instinctively becomes the art of the physical “becoming” and within this transition we no longer care to know what life means. We are indeed furnishing the “what is” by simply being.

Believe me that in every big thing or achievement there are always obstacles, big or small, and the reaction one shows to such obstacles is what counts, not the obstacle itself.

In order to realize our true self we must be willing to live without being dependent upon the opinion of others. When we are completely self-sufficient we can have no fear of not being esteemed by others.

To understand, surely, there must be a state of choiceless awareness in which there is no sense of comparison or condemnation, no waiting for further development on the thing we are talking about in order to agree or disagree – don’t start from a conclusion above all.

The growth aim is to lose more and more your “mind” and come more to your sense. To be more and more in touch with yourself and the world, instead of only in touch with the fantasies, prejudices, etc.

Be pliable. When a man is living, he is soft and pliable; when he is dead, he becomes rigid. Pliability is life; rigidity is death, whether one speak’s of man’s body, his mind, or his spirit.

When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, he can fit in with any style.

I present a possible direction, nothing more. It is like a finger pointing away to the moon; don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

I don’t believe in pure luck. You have to create your own luck. You have to be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them.

The world is full of people who are determined to be somebody or give trouble. They want to get ahead to stand out. Such ambition has no use for a man of Tao, who rejects all forms of self-assertiveness and competition.

Use no way as way. When there is a “Way”, therein lies the limitation. And when there is a circumference, it traps. And if it traps, it rots. And if it rots, it’s lifeless.

We are told that talent creates is own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

When man comes to a conscious vital realization of those great spiritual forces within himself and begins to use those forces in science, in business, and in life, his progress in the future will be unparalleled.

I’ve always been buffeted by circumstances because I thought of myself as a human being affected by outside conditioning. Now I realize that I am the power that commands the feeling of my mind and from which circumstances grow.

In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all of your preconceived fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is so useful? Because it is empty.

To be one thing and not to change is the climax of stillness. To have nothing in one that resists is the climax of emptiness. To remain detached from all outside things is the climax of fineness. To have in oneself no contraries is the climax of purity.

Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. To realize that it’s just an inconvenience, that it is not a catastrophe, but just an unpleasantness, is part of coming into your own, part of waking up.

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. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

Because one does not want to be disturbed, to be made uncertain, he establishes a pattern of conduct, of thought, a pattern of relationship to man, etc. Then he becomes a slave to the pattern and takes the pattern to be the real thing.

I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand.

If you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.

Self-knowledge involves relationship. To know oneself is to study one self in action with another person. Relationship is a process of self evaluation and self revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself – to be is to be related.

When a man has confidence in himself, when all he wants in the world is to live out his destiny in freedom and purity, he comes to regard all those vastly overestimated and far too costly possessions as mere accessories, pleasant perhaps to have and make use of, but never essential.

Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is very important. Most people live only for their image.

The athlete who is building muscles though weight training should be very sure to work adequately on speed and flexibility at the same time. In combat, without the prior attributes, a strong man will be like the bull with its colossal strength futilely pursuing the matador or like a low-geared truck chasing a rabbit.