Bruce Lee quotes:

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

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

Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.

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.

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

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

My strength comes from my abdomen. It's the center of gravity and the source of real power.

You will never learn anything new unless you are ready to accept yourself with your limitations. You must accept the fact that you are capable in some directions and limited in others, and you must develop your capabilities.

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

Loneliness is only an opportunity to cut adrift and find yourself. In solitude you are least alone.

There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way.

I believe in having a few pupils at one time as it requires a constant alert observation of each individual in order to establish a direct relationship. A good teacher can never be fixed in a routine... each moment requires a sensitive mind that is constantly changing and constantly adapting.

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

The abdominal and waist region coordinate all parts of the body and act as the center or generator. Therefore, you can promote the ability to control the body's action and master your will more easily.

A good teacher can never be fixed in a routine... each moment requires a sensitive mind that is constantly changing and constantly adapting. A teacher must never impose this student to fit his favourite pattern; a good teacher functions as a pointer, exposing his student's vulnerability (and) causing him to explore both internally and finally integrating himself with his being. Martial art should not be passed out indiscriminately.

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

Concepts vs. self-actualization. - Instead of dedicating your life to actualize a concept of what you should be like, ACTUALIZE YOURSELF. The process of maturing does not mean to become a captive of conceptualization. It is to come to the realization of what lies in our innermost selves.

Use karate, judo, aikido, or any style to build your counter-offensive. It will be interesting!

Art lives where absolute freedom is because when it is not, there can be no creativity.

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.

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

One must be truthful and honest in his approach; a constant independent inquiry and not blindly following a certain blue print laid down by others

I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves. It is futile to argue as to which leaf, which design of branches, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.

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

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.

Simplicity is the key to brilliance.

The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'do' the punch or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over will only work to opposite effect.

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

Like a cobra, your strike should be felt before it is seen.

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

The founder of any branch must be more ingenious than the common man. However, if his achievement is not carried on by disciples of the same ingenuity, then things will only become formalized and get stuck in a cul-de-sac; whereby breakthrough and progress will be almost impossible.

Conditioning obstructs our view of reality. We do not see IT in its suchness because of our indoctrination, crooked and twisted.

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.

If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.

Persistence, persistence, and persistence. The Power can be created and maintained through daily practice - continuous effort.

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus and a chair that's not obtained from Craigslist that keeps poking into his back.

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.

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

One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.

Put 'going the extra mile' to work as part of one's daily habit

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

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

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.

Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself - to be is to be related.

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

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.

Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. I'll not willingly offend, nor be easily offended.

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.

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

Action is a high road 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.

Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely- lay your life before him!!

Evaluation by others is not a guide for me.

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 me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself.

The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.

The idea is that flowing water never goes stale, so just keep on flowing.

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

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.

Learn it all, then forget it all.

A person cannot forget someone who is good to them.

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

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 refer to my hands, feet and body as the tools of the trade. The hands and feet must be sharpened and improved daily to be efficient.

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

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

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

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.

Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience.

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.

No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness.

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

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

A good martial artist does not become tend but ready, not thinking but jet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come.

The best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt on any style. He kicks too good for a Boxer, throws too good for a Karate man, and punches too good for a Judo man.

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

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

Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.

A kung fu man who was really good was not proud at all. Pride emphasizes the superiority of one's status. There has to be fear and insecurity in pride, because when you aim at being highly esteemed and achieve such status, you automatically start to worry about losing status.

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.

Remember, Life is a journey, not a destination.

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

There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

Love is like a friendship caught on fire.

Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student.

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

A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing.

A quality martial artist is always ready for any move, and trains oneself invincible.

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; and when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, "I" do not hit, "it" hits all by itself.

To be bound by traditional martial art style or styles is the way of the mindless, enslaved martial artist. But to be inspired by the traditional martial art and to achieve further heights is the way of genius.

If mere mechanical efficiency can make everyone a martial artist, then all is well. Unfortunately, combat, like freedom, is something that can not be preconceived.

Real living is living for others.

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

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.

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.

Probably the most badass guy who ever lived on this planet!

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

In building a statue, a sculptor doesn't keep adding clay to his subject. Actually, he keeps chiseling away at the nonessentials until the truth of his creation is revealed without obstruction.

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

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.

I create opportunities.

I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.

I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.

Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Dont concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.

Practice makes perfect. After a long time of practicing, our work will become natural, skillfull, swift, and steady.

Nowadays you don't go around on the street kicking people, punching people -- because if you do (makes gun shape with hand), well that's it -- I don't care how good you are.

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

What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds 'body feel' and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.

True refinement seeks simplicity.

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