Miyamoto Musashi · 96 pages
Rating: (27.2K votes)
“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
“Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world”
“You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
“Do nothing that is of no use”
“The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them”
“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
“from one thing, know ten thousand things”
“You can only fight the way you practice”
“Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.”
“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet”
“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
“Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.”
“Do not regret what you have done”
“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.”
“All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them”
“If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you”
“Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.”
“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.”
“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win”
“To know ten thousand things, know one well”
“Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help”
“Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast….Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy.”
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
“You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.”
“The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.”
“To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy”
“Know your enemy, know his sword.”
“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.”
“No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible”
“It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.”
“There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.”
“The world is divided into those who screw and those who do not. He distrusted those who did not—when they strayed from the straight and narrow it was something so unusual for them that they bragged about love as if they had just invented it.”
“Always try to improve on your performance. Do”
“Lewis could feel something swelling inside him, at his sinuses and in his chest. He had worked hard to keep this ghost at bay, but now it was pressing in, coming to claim its dues. The tears were coming, and he had to swallow to hold them. He stood up.”
“- It's a bit late to say something now... I'll just live with it!
- If all you do is «live with it»... then that's not much of a life." (p.50)”
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