Favourite Quotations for MAs?

[Cliarlaoch]

Hey, folks,

Since we've probably got a few people new to Martial Arts on the site, I'd figure I'd ask what some of everybody's favourite inspirational quotations where for Martial Artists. This can also be applicable to those of us who've been in the game long enough to get good and cynical... and we all know who we are in that category.
:rolleyes:

No limits, and yes, I'm sure this HAS been done before somewhere, so maybe we should just keep the focus centered on quotations for those who are just starting out, or those who are questioning whether they should continue as MAs.

Thanks all!

--Cliarlaoch

PS: One of my personal favourites has to be from Marcus Aurelius:

"Waste no more time debating what it is to be a good man. Be one."

Of course, that's more general than I really want, but you get the picture.

[Zepp]

Famous quotations? I don't know, there's so many to choose from.

A friend of mine came up with a quip I like scaring white belts with: "Martial arts-- it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye,-- and then it's just fun!" :)

[bdparsons]

"It's a poor set of feet that lets a body get beat!"
...Chuck Sullivan

Respects,
Bill Parsons

[Pyros]

"Slow down to go faster." -Chuck Norris

[tshadowchaser]

"We teach the graceful art of Killing and Maiming" my instructor Master George Chartier.

[karatekid1975]

This is one I have been using a lot and I should put in my sig:

"Black belts are just advanced beginners. Color belts learn the basics, black belts learn to USE the basics" ;)

[Kirk]

"Do it a thousand times slow, before you do it one time fast"
-- Huk Planas

"It's not who's right, but who's left that counts"
-- Ed Parker

"For those of you on the other side of the room who didn't hear,
I floated a kenpo air biscuit"
-- Ed Parker Jr at a seminar in San Antonio, after letting one rip.

[thesensei]

"He who hesitates, meditates in the horizontal position!"
-- Ed Parker

JB

[sammy3170]

Originally posted by thesensei
"He who hesitates, meditates in the horizontal position!"
-- Ed Parker

JB

Everyone knows the old No Pain No Gain but I perfer No Burn No Learn.

Cheers
Sammy

[sammy3170]

Originally posted by tshadowchaser
"We teach the graceful art of Killing and Maiming" my instructor Master George Chartier.

Always cover your face with your hands or your assailant will cover your face with his.


Cheers
Sammy

[RyuShiKan]

In Japanese there is a saying “miso kuso”.

Miso is beanpaste that you use to make miso soup and is very good for your health.
Kuso is fecal matter or excrement.

Miso actually looks almost exactly like kuso and vice versa.

The saying can be applied to martial arts and means something that looks like **** (miso) isn’t always **** and could actually be of great value for you, reversibly something that seems like it is good for you (kuso) might actually not be.

So seeing really extravagant technique is not always good technique.

In short all that glitters is not golden.

Some in Chinese:

“dao ke dao fei chang dao”

What looks like the “way” cannot possibly be the “way” because it looks like the “way”.

Fen Shen Swei Gu

(Powder body smash bones) Do anything to repay kindness

Hwa She Tyan Dzu

(draw snake add feet) Unnecessary embellishment, to do to excess.

Jing Yi Chyou Jing

“refined more seek refined” Constantly strive for refinement

Lin Jen Mwo Chyang

"go to battle sharpen spear" act at the last minute, to procrastinate

[old_sempai]

:asian:

“The sound of the Gionshoja bell

Echoes the impermanence of all things.

The color of the Soliflowers reveals the truth

That even the prosperous must decline

The proud do not endure

They are like a dream on a spring night

The mighty fall at the last,

They are as dust - before the wind."

:asian:

[karatekid1975]

I forgot one. My TSD instructor used to bark this one:

"Keep your hands up!" Or "Can't isn't allowed here!"

[Cthulhu]

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough."

Name withheld to protect the not-so-innocent ;)

Cthulhu

[Abbax8]

The instructor tells the class while looking at the uke- "This technique demonstrates the power of mind over matter. I don't Mind and he doesn't Matter"

Peace
Dennis

[Cliarlaoch]

A common one, but I still like it:

"It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get back up."

Another version: "Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall" -- Oliver Goldsmith



I remember this one from a black belt assistant instructor who was 6' 3" and probably about 230-245 pounds:

"If you're going to throw a punch or a kick, or any technique, you better make sure that you do it so that it can stop me... Do you think THAT can put me down? If not, you're not doing it right."

I think that was motivation enough for the class that day... especially since I was the dummy on that one!

[Posiview]

"Black belts are just advanced beginners. Color belts learn the basics, black belts learn to USE the basics"

Like it.

"Don't think - feel"


Andy Sheader

[Master of Blades]

The exact words my dad told me

A: As I was about to spar him after I challenged him

"Dont hunt what you cant kill"

B: On my birthday when we were talking bout how dangerous he is

"Look mate I can slit your throat with a credit card! That tell you how dangerous I am?"

God I love my dad.....:rofl:

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by Cliarlaoch
A common one, but I still like it:

"It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get back up."

Another version: "Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall" -- Oliver Goldsmith

I was a colored belt and the test dummy for a demonstration for the Boy Scouts of America. The Two Black Belts kept hitting me and taking me down and or throwing me. When all was said and done they asked the crowd for any questions.

The First Boy replied: "Yes, What art does he study,(* Pointing at me *)" One of the Black Belts replied "Why do you ask?". Little boy replies, " Well no matter what you did to him he kept getting back up for more!" :D



Originally posted by Cliarlaoch

I remember this one from a black belt assistant instructor who was 6' 3" and probably about 230-245 pounds:

"If you're going to throw a punch or a kick, or any technique, you better make sure that you do it so that it can stop me... Do you think THAT can put me down? If not, you're not doing it right."

I think that was motivation enough for the class that day... especially since I was the dummy on that one!

Good Advice, this coming from myself being 6'3" and 275 lbs. :D

[Kroy]

On your knuckles, give me 50 - my first instructor:eek:

[pesilat]

I have a bunch of them listed at http://www.guild-hall.com/quotes.php

However, among my favorites are:

"A black belt is just a white belt who never gave up."

All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them. -- Miyamoto Musashi

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is. -- H. Jackson Browne

Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. -- Samuel Johnson

"If I listen, I have the advantage. If I speak, others have it."

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. -- Martin H. Fischer

Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom: No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition. -- Indira Gandhi

"Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them."

You become a champion by fighting one more round. When things are tough, you fight one more round. -- James Corbett (Boxer)

Never mistake motion for action. -- Ernest Hemingway


And that really just scratches the surface :)

Mike

[Disco]

TRAIN NOT TO BECOME A STATISTIC......

[Mark L]

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt
The Sorbonne, 1910.

[FLY]

Here are a few of my favourites:

The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life.

- SAMURAI MAXIM

The mind should be nowhere in particular.

- TAKUAN

You may train for a long, ling time, but if you merely move your hands and
feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very
different from learning to dance. You will never have reached the heart of
the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do.

- GICHIN FUNAKOSHI

FLY.
:asian:

[old_sempai]

"Bully: for you old boy......... as TR would say.......

[Zujitsuka]

"Man at his birth is supple and tender, but in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity and hardness accompany death." - Lao-tsu

"Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strength. What is more malleable is always superior over that which is immoveable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation." - Lao-tsu

"The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. Bruce Lee." - Bruce Lee

Peace & blessings,

[jdmills]

There are three types of people:

Those that make it happen, those that let it happen, and those that ask "what happened?".

- Edmund K. Parker

[Mormegil]

"You karate do, yes. OK. You karate do, no. OK. You karate do, guess so. Squish, just like grape!"
-Mr. Miyagi

Of course this works better when preceded with the story of the grape picking one side of the street (left, right, or middle).


Another form may be: "Do, or do not. There is no try."
-Master Yoda

[Cryozombie]

"KEEP GOING" --Masaaki Hatsumi, 34th Grandmaster of Togakure Ryu Ninpo Taijutsu

"One who is a Warrior, must before all things keep constantly in mind by day or by night the fact that he has to Die." -- Daidoji Yuzan, The Code of the Samurai

[pesilat]

"A warrior may choose pacifism. All others are condemned to it." - Bob Orlando

Mike

[RyuShiKan]

Originally posted by pesilat
"A warrior may choose pacifism. All others are condemned to it." - Bob Orlando

Mike


Isn't he related to Tony Orlando?

[pesilat]

Originally posted by RyuShiKan
Isn't he related to Tony Orlando?

Umm ... not that I'm aware of :)

Bob's a martial artist in the Denver area of Colorado and has written a couple of books and done a video or two.

Mike

[Laevolus]

Mine's so obvious and cliched I'm almost afraid to add it, but it's always inspires me.

Bruce Lee (told you it was cliched) and his famous water speech.

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless--like water.
Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup,
You put water into a bottle, 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."

Gotta love it though :D

[Eggman]

"99% of all failures come from people who are in the habit of making excuses!" George Washington Carver

[jdmills]

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right."

[cali_tkdbruin]

When I first began training in the MAs on the road to Black Belt I kept hearing this one:

"The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step."

[cali_tkdbruin]

“To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. If you want to understand the truth in martial arts, to see any opponent clearly, you must throw away the notion of styles or schools, prejudices, likes and dislikes, and so forth. Then, your mind will cease all conflict and come to rest. In this silence, you will see totally and freshly.” – Bruce Lee

“The human mind can subjugate anything—even real pain.” – Bruce Lee

“To practice Zen or the Martial Arts, you must live intensely, wholeheartedly, without reserve—as if you might die in the next instant.” – Taisen Deshimaru

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by Master of Blades


"Look mate I can slit your throat with a credit card! That tell you how dangerous I am?"


Oh Yeah!! I like this one. :D
LOL, I have just gotta learn that credit card technique... :rofl:

[Kirk]

"Do it 1000 times slow before you do it 1 time fast" -Huk Planas

"Very good .. but brick no hit back" - Bolo Yeung in the movie
Bloodsport :p

[cali_tkdbruin]

Here's more for the boxing set:

"A champion is someone who gets back up—even if they can't." - Jack Dempsey
"Float like a butterfly sting like a bee—your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see." - Mohammad Ali

:boxing:

[Rob_Broad]

Control means never having to say you're sorry.

[theletch1]

"Make civilized the mind. Make savage the body." ancient chinese proverb

"Ya got nuthin' on me there. Try twistin' the wrist (or elbow or whatever) like that....ow!! Ya got it right that time." my favorite training partner at school

[cali_tkdbruin]

Like fire, Taekwondo itself is neither good nor evil. It is neutral, its character is determined by the eye of the perceiver, the hand of the user. - Adapted from quote by Jerrold Mundis

[cali_tkdbruin]

The harder you train, the easier the fight. - Herman Suwanda

“Go hard or go home.”

“Fear of pain is worse than pain itself.”


:asian:

[cali_tkdbruin]

And most importantly:

“Know yourself and know your opponent—you will not face peril in a thousand battles.” – Sun Tzu :mst:

[chufeng]

A diamond is created with lots of pressure and lots of heat...
?don't know who said it?

The more one sweats in training, the less one bleeds on the battlefield. Navy Seals motto

No matter how well trained you are, Mr. Murphy will jump on your back to complicate the situation...always have a back-up plan, and a back-up to your back-up plan. Dick Marcinko

[Yari]

It's in my sig. from my first Aikido teacher Mouliko:

Just Feel !

He had another one( took it from Nike):

Just do it!


/Yari