“If there is always light, you don't experience light anymore. You have to have the rhythm of light and darkness.”

“Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

“Don't get set into one form. Adapt it and build your own, and let it grow. Be like water.”

“To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities.”

“One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.”

“A good fighter must sense rather than perceive his chance to strike.”

“The world belongs to those who set out to conquer it armed with self-confidence and good humour.”

“By adopting a certain physical posture, a resonant chord is struck in spirit.”

“Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire.”

“Use karate, judo, aikido, or any style to build your counter-offensive. It will be interesting!”

“The first rule of business is: Do other men, for they would do you.”

“I am not afraid of a person who knows 10,000 kicks. I am afraid of a person who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

“Flow in the living moment — we are always in a process of becoming and nothing is fixed.”

“If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow — you are not understanding yourself.”

“A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract; when he contracts, I expand. When there is an opportunity, I do not hit — it hits by itself.”

“It's not the daily increase but the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

“Jeet Kune Do does not beat around the bush. It does not take winding detours. It follows a straight line to the objective. Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.”

“I have come to understand that life is best lived, not conceptualized. I am happy because I grow daily, and I honestly do not know where the limit lies.”

“Self-will seems to be the only virtue that takes no account of man-made laws.”

“Probably the most badass guy who ever lived on this planet!”

“Training for strength and flexibility is a must. Use them to support your techniques—techniques alone are no good if you don’t back them with strength and flexibility.”

“To be bound by traditional martial-art styles is the way of the mindless, enslaved martial artist. But to be inspired by traditional martial arts and to achieve further heights is the way of genius.”

“Do not be tense. Be ready — don't think, don't dream; don't be fixed, be flexible.”

“A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing.”

“When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity.”

“Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. The difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is crucial. Most people live only for their image.”

“Willing is not enough; one must apply.”

“Don't ignore the five senses in search of a sixth.”

“To develop the creative attitude, analyze and focus on the desired solution; gather and fill your mind with the facts; write down ideas, both sensible and seemingly wild; let the facts and ideas simmer in your mind; evaluate, recheck, and settle on the creative ideas.”

“Emotion can be the enemy. If you give in to your emotions, you lose yourself. You must be at one with your emotions, because the body always follows the mind.”

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

“Optimism is a faith that leads to success.”

“The intangible represents the real power of the universe. It is the seed of the tangible.”

“Efficiency is anything that scores.”

“I refer to my hands, feet and body as the tools of the trade. The hands and feet must be sharpened and improved daily to be efficient.”

“What is, is more important than what should be.”

“True thusness is the substance of thought, and thought is the function of true thusness. There is no thought except that of true thusness. Thusness does not move, but its motion and function are inexhaustible.”

“He who wants to succeed should learn how to fight, to strive, and to suffer. You can acquire a lot in life if you are prepared to give up a lot to get it.”

“Change begets change.”

“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”

“Seek freedom from the conformity of styles.”

“If I should die tomorrow, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. You can't expect more from life.”

“To a young heart, everything is fun.”

“Take inventory of everyone with whom you have contact.”

“I only ask for information.”

“Learning is a constant process of discovery — a process without end.”

“Not being tense but ready. Not thinking, not dreaming. Not being set but flexible. Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement. It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

“I'm a philosophy major. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed.”

“What is true stillness? Stillness in movement.”

“All of us have wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.”