Bruce Lee Quotes

"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it."

"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, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."

"The possession of anything begins in the mind."

"Knowledge will give you power, but character respect."

"As you think, so shall you become."

"All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"Showing off is the fool's idea of glory."

"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."

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

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

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

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

"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."

"Under the sky, under the heavens, there is but one family. It just so happens that people are different."

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

"Not being tense but ready. Not thinking but not dreaming. Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come."

"Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation."

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

"Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere."

"The mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes and even ordinary thought itself."

"If you think a thing is impossible, you'll only make it impossible."

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

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

"The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action."

"A conditioned mind is never a free mind."

"The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock out the guy in front, but to knock out the ego, fear, or hang-ups inside."

"The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. It is the halfway cultivation that leads to ornamentation."

"The primary reality is not what I think, but what I do."

"The athlete who is building muscles though weight training should be very sure to work adequately on speed and flexibility at the same time."

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

"To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday. For without the freedom from the past, there is no freedom at all."

"The word 'superstar' is an illusion. It is an inflated idea of one's own importance."

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

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

"The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits."

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

"It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to ask yourself whenever you are being thrown down, 'Why am I being thrown down?"

"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."

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

"Freedom lies in understanding yourself from moment to moment."

"In solitude you are least alone. Make good use of it."

"Be aware of our conditioning. Drop and dissolve inner blockage."

"Inner to outer—we start by dissolving our attitude, not by altering outer conditions."

"You have your choice—you are master of your attitude. Choose the positive, the constructive."

"Do what seems wise to be done, forget it and walk on. Walk on and see a new view."

"Be a practical dreamer backed by action."

"To change with change is the changeless state."

"Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is essentially your own."

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

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

"In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature."

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

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

"Things live by moving and gain strength as they go."

"Be a calm beholder of what is happening around you."

"There is a difference between the world and our reaction to it."

"No one can hurt you unless you allow him."

"Inwardly, psychologically, be a nobody."

"Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light."

"Be happy, but never satisfied."

"Action is a high road to confidence and self-esteem."

"Recognizing the power of will, I will exercise it daily, when I need the urge to action for any purpose."

"I will form daily habits which encourage the development of positive emotions and aid me in converting negative emotions into useful action."

"I will never stop trying until I have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment."

"The individual is of first importance, not the system."

"Remember that man created method and not that method created man."

"Do not strain yourself in twisting into someone's preconceived pattern, which unquestionably would be appropriate for him, but not necessarily for you."

"To understand and live now, there must be dying to everything of yesterday."

"I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life; therefore, I demand of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment."

"I will concentrate my thoughts daily upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture."

"In the middle of chaos lies opportunity."

"Real living is living for others."

"Be self-aware, rather than a repetitious robot."

"In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup."

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

"A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously."

"A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready."

"Not thinking, yet not dreaming: ready for whatever may come."

"When the opponent expands, I contract; when he contracts, I expand."

"When there is an opportunity, I do not hit; it hits all by itself."

"To have no technique."

"There is no opponent."

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

"The extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity."

"The easy way is also the right way."