Top 496 Quotes & Sayings by Bruce Lee - Page 5

Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible.

Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.

Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.

The past is an illusion. You must learn to live in the present and accept yourself for what you are now. What you lack in flexibility and agility you must make up with knowledge and constant practice.

I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies.

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

We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we create

Any technique, however worthy and desirable, becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it.

Efficiency is anything that scores.

If I should die tomorrow, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. You can't expect more from life.

A man must constantly exceed his level

Understand your limitations and capitalize on them.

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

Man, he 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

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

In combat, spontaneity rules; rote performance of technique perishes.

To tell the truth, I could beat anybody in the world.

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.

when one is not expressing himself, he is not free. thus, he begins to struggle and the struggle breeds methodical routine. Soon, he is doing his methodical routine as response rather than responding to what is.

When one has reached maturity in this art, one will have the formless form. It is like the dissolving or thawing [of] ice into water that can shape itself to any structure. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, one can fit in with any style.

Dedication, absolute dedication, is what keeps one ahead. A sort of indomitable obsessive dedication and the realization that there is no end or limit to this because life is simply an ever-growing process, an ever-renewing process.

Be self aware, rather than a repetitious robot

Optimism is a faith that leads to success.

A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.

While it may come as a profound surprise to those of us who are in the throes of an emotional or life crisis, the fact remains that the answer to virtually all of our problems resides within us already. It exist in the form of a vast reservoir of free-flowing energy that, when channeled to our muscles, can give us great strength and, when channeled to our brain, can give us great insight and understanding.

I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself.

What comes after victory? Why do people value victory so much? What is 'glory'? What kind of victory is 'glorious'?

Running water never grows stale.

Success only means doing something sincerely and wholeheartedly. I think life is a process. Through the ages, the end of heroes is the same as ordinary men. They all died and gradually faded away in the memory of man. But when we are still alive, we have to understand ourselves, discover ourselves and express ourselves. In this way, we can progress, but we may not be successful.

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

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

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

Taoist philosophy is essentially monistic. Matter and energy, Yang and Yin, heaven and earth, are conceived of as essentially one or as two coexistent poles of one indivisible whole.

Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.

Put every great teacher in a room, and they'd agree about everything, but put their disciples in there and they'd argue about everything.

To take responsibility for one's own actions, good and bad, is something else.

It is true that the mental aspect of kung-fu is the desired end; however, to achieve this end, technical skill must come first.

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.

Having totality means being capable of following "what is," because "what is" is constantly moving and constantly changing. If one is anchored to a particular view, one will not be able to follow the swift movement of "what is.

It is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky..but to express oneself honestly not lying to oneself, now that my friend is very hard to do

Be like water, my friend.

Either you understand or you don't, and that is that.

Love is like a friendship caught on fire.

Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception.

All goals apart from the means are illusions; becoming is a denial of being.

You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I mean I don't want to be like "As Confucius say," but under the sky, under the heavens there is but one family. It just so happens man that people are different.

The principle of martial arts is not a thing that can be learned, like a science, by fact-finding and instruction in facts. It has to grow spontaneously, like a flower, in a mind free from emotions and desires.

There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience: they acted dishonorably because they had to obey orders. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instrument of a higher power -- God, history, fate, nation, or humanity.

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

There’s only one basic principle of self-defense- you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.

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

It is better to live as a broken piece of jade, than to live as a useless clay.

Jeet Kune Do does not beat around the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a straight line to the objective. Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.

The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.

I'm not a master. I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning. So I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word 'master.' I consider the master as such when they close the casket.

A good fighter must sense rather than perceive his chance to strike.

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

A kung fu man lives without being dependant on the opinions of others, and a master, unlike the beginner, holds himself in reserve. He is quiet and unassuming, with no desire to show off.

The More we value things, the less we value ourselves

You and your opponent are one. There is a coexisting relationship between you. You coexist with your opponent and become his complement, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him.