Bruce Lee Quotes

“'What is' is more important than ‘what should be’. Too many people are looking at ‘what is’ from a position of thinking ‘what should be’.”

“A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.”

“A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.”

“After all, all knowledge simply means self-knowledge.”

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.”

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

“Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.”

“Art is the way to the absolute and to the essence of human life. The aim of art is not the one-sided promotion of spirit, soul and senses, but the opening of all human capacities – thought, feeling, will – to the life rhythm of the world of nature. So will the voiceless voice be heard and the self be brought into harmony with it.”

“As you think, so shall you become.”

“Be happy, but never satisfied.”

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”

“Be self aware, rather than a repetitious robot.”

“Because one does not want to be disturbed, to be made uncertain, he establishes a pattern of conduct, of thought, a pattern of relationship to man etc. Then he becomes a slave to the pattern and takes the pattern to be the real thing.”

“Boards don’t hit back.”

“But neither can you condemn nor justify and yet be extraordinarily alive as you walk on. You can never invite the wind but you must leave the window open.”

“Choose the positive. You have choice, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success.”

“Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality in your own mind.”

“Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.”

“Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being “wholly” and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

“Do not correct a fool or he will hate you. Correct a wise man, and he will appreciate you.”

“Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.”

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”

“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”

“Endurance is lost rapidly if one ceases to work at its maximum.”

“Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student.”

“Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.”

“For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.”

“Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely – lay your life before him!”

“I always believe that the easy way is the right way.”

“I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”