Your Favorite MA Quote

[Jason Striker II]

A list of these is always good to ponder.

Let me start with:

When you walk out your front door, 10,000 enemies await you. (Gichin Funakoshi)

 

[chrispillertkd]

Hard to narrow it down to a single quote. I've heard many good ones over the years. A few that I keep going back to, however are:

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class." - Gen. Choi, Hong Hi

"When you know one thing through and through, then you know everything." - Grand Master Choi, Jung Hwa

"Licking the outside of a watermelon." - Grand Master Choi, Jung Hwa (This is a Korean proverb, not a saying specifically associated with martial arts, about only getting a cursory understanding of something instead of coming to a deep understanding of it, but GM Choi used it to refer to how people should not view their training in Taekwon-Do.)

Pax,

Chris

 

[Jenna]

If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize ~ Muhammad Ali

(the only fighter I think could carry off such arrogance with such humility and self-deprecation).

 

[Big Don]

When in a fight, hit first, hit fast, hit often.

Adm William 'Bull' Halsey

 

[Steve]

"A black belt only covers 2 inches of your ***. The rest is up to you." - Royce Gracie

"The ground is my ocean. I am a shark, and most people cant swim." - JJ Machado

"If size mattered, the elephant would be the king of the jungle." - Rickson Gracie
​

 

[chinto]

hmm can think of a few , one is " when two tigers fight, one is dead, and the other is mortally wounded!" and the other I understand was a favorite of master Kyan,
"If you fight you may die!" one other is in my signature block .. by a great Science Fiction author.
unarmed hand to hand fighting has NOT changed through the ages; only the name changes, and it has only one rule: do it first, do it fast, do it dirtiest. -- Robert A. Heinlien

 

[rlobrecht]

I guess you're not going for:

I know Kung Fu

- Neo from The Matrix

or

wax on, wax off

- Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid



Rick

 

[MAist25]

"Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality." -- Bruce Lee

 

[Twin Fist]

"hit them hard, in the face till they fall down"- Me

 

[Buka]

"If we fight for money, I'll stop hitting you when you ask me to. If we fight for honor, I'll stop hitting you when I feel like it." - Rickson Gracie

 

[Josh Oakley]

Ben Henderson's coach: "you got 5 good minutes you can give me?"
Henderson: "I've got 15, sir!"

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk

 

[Aiki Lee]

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." -Sun Tzu

"When you aim for perfection you discover it is a moving target." - Unknown

"Stop sucking." - Thomas Miaenza

"It's called taijutsu not tryjutsu." - Me

"As soon as you concern yourself with the 'good' and 'bad' of your fellows, you create an opening in your heart for maliciousness to enter. Testing, competing with, and criticizing others weaken and defeat you." - O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba

"Heaven lies under the sword." - Samurai maxim

"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle." -SEAL maxim

 

[Blindside]

Never walk away from home ahead of your axe and sword. You can't feel a battle in your bones or foresee a fight.
~ The Havamal

 

[Jenna]

"Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality." -- Bruce Lee

Can I ask please what do these kind of quotes mean to you and how do you apply the teachings therein? Thank you.

 

[Jason Striker II]

"Hit your attacker uptown, downtown, and midtown - then drop him off at the graveyard!" (GM Peter Urban)

 

[clfsean]

"Hello... My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die..."

 

[MAist25]

Can I ask please what do these kind of quotes mean to you and how do you apply the teachings therein? Thank you.

Basically what I take from it is to keep an open mind. Once you believe that you know everything you lose the ability to learn. "Become devoid to gain totality", become nothing to gain everything. If you keep your mind open and try to understand concepts that may be different from what you are used to, you will gain much more than trying to manipulate those concepts to try and fit somewhere into the concepts that have already been drilled into your head as "the only way". Try to see things for what they are rather than trying to make them something they are not.

The quote fits in perfectly with another one of Lee's quotes, "Use no way as way, have no limitation as limitation." Keep your mind open, do not limit yourself through stylistic boundaries because that will only hinder your ability to reach your full potential as a martial artist.

That's just what I get out of that quote, something I try to keep in mind when I am training.

 

[Langenschwert]

"A despondent heart will always be defeated, regardless of all skill."

- Fechtmeister Sigmund Ringeck, 1440

Practice your art by necessity, honestly and never in foolish vanity. Then you will remain a good and true man, a true swordsman.

- Hanko the Priest Doebringer, 1389

Best regards,

-Mark

 

[chinto]

Oaths have been given, Now fulfill them! Any number of commanders and leaders, Roman, Frankish, Viking, Japanese, Chinese, English or many more!

" A RED DAY !! A SWORD DAY!!" LORD OF THE RINGS.
" I am the old Lobo Wolf with foam dripping from his jaws on his death run! " Matt Helm

 

[Randy Strausbaugh]

Karate ni sente nashi - G.Funakoshi

My name is my rank - T. Takamatsu

The fist is like a treasure in the pocket, never to be displayed in public - J. Mitose

Boards don't hit back - B. Lee

Those who hesitate meditate in a horizontal position - E. Parker

Your stance really sucks - J.T. Will