Ip Man Quotes in Yip Man (2008)

Miura: [after witnessing Ip Man single-handedly defeat ten Japanese fighters at once] What's your name?

Ip Man: I'm just a Chinese man.

Ip Man: [hits Lei] Traitor!

Captain Lei Chiu: Why am I a traitor? Their deaths have got nothing to do with me. I'm just an interpreter. I need to scrape a living too!

Ip Man: Scrape a living? You watch your countrymen get beaten to death. Where's your dignity?

[walks away]

Captain Lei Chiu: I don't have any. You do. You have lots of it. If you have the guts, go beat them! Beat as many as you can! I'm an interpreter, not a traitor...

[throws book to the ground and shouts in Japanese]

Captain Lei Chiu: I'm a Chinese man!

Ip Man: [Facing the Northerner Ip Man adopts his combat stance with an unsettling mixture of mettle and serenity] Wing Chun, Ip Man.

Ip Man: Not bad. But did you really kick that water, or only think you did?

Landlady: Master! Someone wants to learn Wing Chun.

Ip Man: You want to learn Wing Chun?

Wong Shun Leung: Maybe. Just checking it out. I don't know what Wing Chun is.

Ip Man: Let me give you an introduction. As a matter of fact, Wing Chun is a close combat style from the South...

Wong Shun Leung: No need to tell me all this. Let's just fight. I'll pay you the school fees if I lose.

Ip Man: Ok. I am Ip Man of Wing Chun.

Ip Man: Let's talk. Will you release my pupil first?

Cheng Wai-Kei: Release him!

Ip Man: Leung, are you all right?

Wong Shun Leung: I'm fine.

Ip Man: Why did you injure him?

Wong Shun Leung: He wanted to fight, but wasn't as good as me. I couldn't really help it, could I?

Cheng Wai-Kei: What did you say? I'm not as good as you?

Ip Man: Take it easy! You're both young men. Injuries are inevitable in friendly fights. I'll visit your master and explain to him. May I know who your master is?

Cheng Wai-Kei: Doesn't matter. He's better than you anyway. By the way, did you bring the ransom?

Ip Man: No.

Ip Man: I have watched you perform in the opera of life. You have shown great timing and skill; however you never went beyond the role you played.

Gong Er: I had no idea I have such an ardent spectator.

Gong Er: I had considered a career in opera years ago, I had received training. I had thought about it a lot: me on stage performing, and you in the audience watching...

Ip Man: What if your performance had sold out?

Gong Er: [smiles] You flatter me. I would have reserved a seat specifically for you.

[Ip Man thrashes a goon who demands money allegedly for his mother's funeral]

Ip Man: [gives money] This is prayer money. Sooner or later, you'll join your mother.

Goon: Come to think of it, you remind me of my dad. Do you need a disciple?

[last lines]

Ip Man: They say I spread wing chung throughout the world. I hope that's true. I didn't do it to acquire renown. The martial arts should be open to all, everyone should walk the same route. It all comes down to two words: Horizontal, Vertical.