Quotes on the Martial Arts

• "Through study of karate students can develop a non-quitting spirit. It doesn't matter if you are a woman, your sex or age, but as long as you study karate you can develop a strong spirit, a non-quit spirit. This because throughout our life there is always something happening, but each time something happens you take it as a challenge, and even if you fall down you take it as your challenge. You say, "This is a way I can grow. This way that I can enrich myself." Then with positive attitude, can face problems, can face obstacles. You can kind of fight back. You develop an attitude as how to carry on and live life. A good punch is fine. A good kick is fine. But what really is really important is your strength inside. That is what allows to meet life's challenges. That is what people respect -- how you dedicate yourself, how you dedicate you life." - Nakamura
• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
• "Practice a thousand hours and you learn self discipline. Practice ten thousand hours and you learn about yourself." - Myamoto Musashi
• "Fire is the test of gold, Adversity, of strong men." - Seneca
• "The path of the Warrior is lifelong, and mastery is often simply staying on the path." - Richard Strozzi Heckler, In Search of the Warrior Spirit
• It ain't the size of the dog in the fight it's the size of the fight in the dog.
• "Indeed, no form of athletic endeaver can do more toward the restoration of confidence than successful participation in combative sport." - Henry A. Stone Wrestling, Intercollegiate and Olympic (1950)
• A monk asked: "Master, how do you put enlightenment into action? How do you practice in everyday life?" The master replied: "By eating and sleeping." The monk said: "But Master, everybody eats and everybody sleeps." The Master replied: "But not everybody eats when they eat, and not everybody sleeps when they sleep." (moral--pay attention in practice!)
• Blessed be the Lord my God, who trains my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. - Psalm 144:1
• "There is no greater solitude than the Samurai's... unless perhaps it be that of the tiger in the jungle" - Book of Bushido
• "In a fight between a strong technique and a strong body, technique will prevail. In a fight between a strong mind and a strong technique, mind will prevail, because it will find the weak point." - Taisen Deshimaru
• A warrior may choose pacifism. Others are condemned to it.
• "Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life." - Morihei Ueshiba
• "He turned his own weapons upon himself, doing battle with his negative emotions." - H.H. The Dalai Lama, speaking about Shantideva
• "Think of how water supports a vessel. Such is t'ai chi's springing power: a physical attitude of seeming-to-be-relaxed-yet-not-relaxed." - Sue Mackie T'ai Chi (1983)
• "...Looking to thine own duty thou shouldst not tremble; for there is nothing more welcome to a Kshattriya (Warrior) than righteous war...offered unsought as an open door to heaven." - The Bhagavad Gita, Second Discourse
• "In Judo, he who thinks is immediately thrown." - Robert Linssen Judo and Psycho-Physical Unity
• "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." - Muhammad Ali