Bruce Lee Quotes & Sayings

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

“There will be calmness and tranquility when one is free from external objects and is not perturbed.”

“True observation begins when you are free of set patterns. Freedom of expression happens when you are beyond systems.”

“It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to ask when you're being knocked down, "Why am I being knocked down?" If a person can reflect in this way, then there is hope for this person.”

“You have to create your own luck. Be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them.”

“Can you look at a situation without naming it? Naming it, making it a word, causes fear.”

“Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”

“My strength comes from my abdomen. It's the center of gravity and the source of real power.”

“Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man's mind can conceive and believe.”

“The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.”

“Every morning, like a scholar at his first class, I prepare a blank mind for the day to write upon.”

“The best fighter is not a boxer, karate or judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style. He kicks better than a boxer, throws better than a karate man, and punches better than a judo man.”

“The mind is like a fertile garden: anything planted—flowers or weeds—will grow.”

“I have the absolute confidence not to be number two, but I have enough sense to realize that there can be no number one.”

“When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, one can fit in with any style.”

“Sorrows are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope.”

“People fear what they do not understand.”

“An instructor should exemplify the things he seeks to teach. It will be of great advantage if you yourself can do all you ask of your students and more.”

“Maturation is the development from environmental support to self-support.”

“Give up thinking as though not giving it up. Observe techniques as though not observing.”

“Knowledge surely is always of time, whereas knowing is not of time. Knowledge is from a source, from accumulation, from conclusion, while knowing is a movement.”

“Do not run away; let go. Do not seek; for it will come when least expected.”

“Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart.”

“You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I don't want to sound like Confucius, but under the sky, under the heaven, man, there is but one family. It just so happens, man, that people are different.”