"The ears are the eyes of darkness." - Ed Parker
Martial Arts Wisdom and Quotes
There is no shortage of opportunity.
Every day you are presented with countless opportunities to be, or do, or create whatever you desire.
Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
Don't miss an opportunity because you're not prepared.
Preparation is absolutely essential.
To achieve success, you must have self discipline.
Develop your skills, increase your knowledge,
and make new personal contacts everyday.
When you are prepared, you're always in the right place at the right time.
You can do a little more each day than you think you can.
There is always a best way of doing everything. Find it.
Do a little more then average and from that point on your progress multiplies itself out of all proportion to the effort you put in.
It will be your constant effort to be first-class in everything you attempt
that will conquer the heights of excellence.
Always do more then you're supposed to do and you can have,
be or do anything you want.
You should travel a little in advance of the rest of the world
to enjoy enduring success.
Make it your life-rule to do your best.
Let superiority be your trademark.
Success is energy well directed.
Concentration is the magic key that opens the door to accomplishment.
The first law of success is concentration.
Bend all your energies to one point, and go directly to that point,
looking neither to the right nor the left.
You can, in time, be what you earnestly desire to be,
if you set your face in the direction of the thing you want and bring all your powers to bear towards its attainment.
When your physical and mental resources are focused,
your power to solve problems multiplies tremendously.
To do two things at once is to do neither.
Nothing can add more power to your life
then concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.
The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
"Don't
Judge those who try and fail, judge only those who fail to try." ~ Matt
Ellis
"There's
no place to hide in the Dojo" ~My
Sensei, Tim Shaw
"The
only difference between the possible and the impossible is
one's will" ~Hironori
Ohtsuka
"Patience, the essential quality of a man." ~Kwai-Koo-Tsu
"Power of mind is infinite while brawn is limited." ~Koichi Tohei
"You and your opponent are one. There is a coexisting relationship between you. You coexist with your opponent and become his compliment, absorbing his attack and using his force to overcome him." ~Bruce Lee
"Control your emotion or it will control you." ~Old Chinese adage
"The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as life." ~Samurai maxim
"The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be." ~Bruce Lee
"Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconcious." ~Daisetsu Suzuki
"To know and to act are one and the same." ~Samurai maxim
"You may train for a long, long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very different from learning to dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of Karate-do." ~Gichin Funakoshi
"a one sided martial artist is a blind martial artist"-unknown
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class."-Choi, Hong Hi Founder of Taekwon-Do
"He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position" -Ed Parker
"A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude."-Rick English
"The art of the sword consists of never being concerned with victory or defeat, with strength or weakness, of not moving one step forward, nor one step backward, or the enemy not seeing me and my not seeing the enemy. Penetrating to that which is fundamental before the separation of heaven and earth where even yin and yang cannot reach, one instantly attains proficiency in the art."- Takuan
"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill."-Sun-Tsu
"Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu. Move quickly. Sound, calm mind. Be light in body. Have a clever mind. Master the basics." - Gogen Yamaguchi
"Even though surrounded By several enemies set to attack, Fight with the thought That they are but one." - Ueshiba
"Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit alone is not enough." - Yamada Jirokichi
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants." - Gichin Funakoshi
"If you don't realize you can kill someone with a bokken, I don't want you using one in *MY* dojo..." - Frederick J. Lovret
"The fastest draw is when the sword never leaves the scabbard, The strongest way to block, is never to provoke a blow, And the cleanest cut is the one withheld."
"Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end" - Master Gichin Funakoshi
"Knowledge does not grow like a tree where you dig a hole, plant your feet, cover them with dirt, and pour water on them daily. Knowledge grows with time, work, and dedicated effort. It cannot come by any other means." - Ed Parker.
"Aikido
is not a defensive martial art. Being defensive is a terrible way
to go through life." -quote on a dojo wall.
This means be proactive.
It does not mean hit first.
"When
two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die." - Master Funakoshi
"1-2 out of every 100 students reach Black Belt and of those only 1 out of every 1,000 achieves his 2nd Dan. -Masutatsu Oyama, This is Karate.
"The Time to Strike is When the Opportunity Presents Itself."- 6th Code of Isshinryu Karatedo
The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many; that which has been learned well by one generation can be passed on to a hundred. -Jigoro Kano
"'Ow'
is not a Kempo word" - Jonathan Vance
"It
is easy to kill someone with a slash of a sword. It is hard to be impossible for
others to cut down." -Yagyu
Munenori
"The
consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all
physical action." -Bruce Lee -The
Tao of Jeet Kune Do
"Concentrate.
Focus power!"
"To desire something does not mean to accomplish it. To perspire for it makes accomplishment a reality." Ed ParkerThe Zen of Kenpo
"The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm. What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still." Sun Tzu
"You might as well stand and fight because if you run, you will only die tired." Sei Shin Kan
"Act like a man of thought - Think like a man of action." - Thomas Mann
"Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind... then the Great Way is right before your eyes."
-Yamamoto Tsunetomo
"No such thing bad student. Only bad teacher." -Mr. Miyagi, Karate Kid
"One becomes great when he comes to the realization that what he knows is very little."
-Ed ParkerThe Zen of Kenpo
"As martial artists, one of the biggest hurdles we have to overcome is fear. The fear of losing is really about consequence; about what our peers, friends, teachers, students and loved ones will think of us if we do lose; this, possibly more than any other factor can effect on our ability to grow and develop as people of
endeavor. Understanding that we only truly learn by first trying, then failing, then re-assessing, and then trying again is the first step along the path to real and fruitful learning. In the martial arts
environment, the coach holds some of the responsibility for creating a healthy and nurturing atmosphere of learning. If the student feels it is safe to fail, safe to admit defeat then he or she will do so with grace and not shame; and therefore be more likely to try and aspire. again and again until success is finally theirs. Ultimately though, it is a personal decision that each of us has to make; do we run from situations over which we have no control, do we run from our losses and give in to our fears for what they really are ... the steps that we have to take if we are to become all that we really can and want to be"
-John B Will Brazilian Jui Jitsu Black Black Belt
"Mental bearing (calmness), not skill, is the sign of a matured samurai. A Samurai therefore should neither be pompous nor arrogant."
- Tsukahara Bokuden
"The ears are the eyes of darkness." - Ed Parker