Top 135 Quotes & Sayings by Miyamoto Musashi

All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this.

You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.

Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.

Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.

Do nothing which is of no use.

Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.

When you have attained the way of strategy there will be nothing that you cannot understand. You will see the way in everything.

The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.

In time, all things work to your advantage when you pursue them with an open heart.

As far as Im concerned, I regret nothing.

Accept everything just the way it is.

It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.

Do not think dishonestly... Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use.

A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study.

You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.

Approach the enemy with the attitude of defeating him without delay.

A warrior has no confusion in his mind...This is true emptiness.

You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain

Imitation is the surest form of flattery and failure. I am not interested with your talk about my ideas. I am more interested in your applying them to your life. If you do not, then you are essentially not in accord with your own mind.

Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the ways of different arts one by one.

In strategy your spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal. Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased.

Do not waste time idling or thinking after you have set your goals

If you wish to control others you must first control yourself

from one thing, know ten thousand things

True warriors are fierce because their training is fierce.

Whatever your determination or will power, it is foolish to try to change the nature of things. Things work the way they do because that is the way of things

No Fear, No Hesitation, No Surprise, No Doubt

Fixation is the way to death. Fluidity is the way to life.

Determine that today you will overcome your self of the day before, tomorrow you will win over those of lesser skill, and later you will win over those of greater skill.

The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding.

The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions

Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.

You can only fight the way you practice

The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them

All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them

The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.

In battle, if you you make your opponent flinch, you have already won.

Even if you strive diligently on your chosen path day after day, if your heart is not in accord with it, then even if you think you are on a good path, from the point of view of the straight and true, this is not a genuine path. If you do not pursue a genuine path to its consummation, then a little bit of crookedness in the mind will later turn into a major warp. Reflect on this.

A bullet from a gun does not make a distinction between practice and combat. You are training to be one and the same way in your life

Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.

There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.

If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains.

Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.

To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead

Anger. Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you.Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated.

The path that leads to truth is littered with the bodies of the ignorant.

Too much is the same as not enough.

When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.

If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world

See to it that you temper yourself with one thousand days of practice, and refine yourself with ten thousand days of training.

Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor the mind be dragged along by the body

Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.

The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win

Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.

Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.

There is no one way to salvation, whatever the manner in which a man may proceed. All forms and variations are governed by the eternal intelligence of the Universe that enables a man to approach perfection. It may be in the arts of music and painting or it may be in commerce, law, or medicine. It may be in the study of war or the study of peace. Each is as important as any other. Spiritual enlightenment through religious meditation such as Zen or in any other way is as viable and functional as any "Way."... A person should study as they see fit.

Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior.

It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet

If you fail to take advantage of your enemies' collapse, they may recover.