Bruce Lee is an iconic martial artist and actor. He is widely considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century.
Lee initially trained in Wing Chun but later switched to studying Western boxing. After he moved to the United States at age 18, he quickly became one of Hollywood’s most popular martial arts movie stars. He had been teaching martial arts for several years and saw his children’s interest as potential future students to teach Bruce Lee’s self-defense system.
He grew up in Kowloon with his family, where he began studying Wing Chun at the age of 11 under Sifu Yip Man from Shao Lin Monastery in nearby Peking (now Beijing). His initial goal was to become a teacher for other students, but his talent led him to compete in fighting competitions.
Here are 109 of Bruce Lee’s quotes that are the perfect way to motivate yourself and live an incredible life
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.”
“You know how I like to think of myself? As a human being.”
“Yesterday’s dreams are often tomorrow’s realities.”
I fear not the man who has practiced 10 000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10 000 times.”
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.
“Your mind is the result of a thousand yesterdays.”
“Don’t be in a hurry to “fix” things; rather, enrich your understanding in the ever-going process of discovery and finding more the cause of your ignorance.”
“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.”
“What is real is seeing the truth instantaneously, because truth has no future.”
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”
“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.”
“Freedom lies in understanding yourself from moment to moment.”
“Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
“Defeat is a state of mind; No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.”
“I don’t believe in pure luck. You have to create your own luck. You have to be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them.”
“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”
“For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.”
“There is no weapon more deadly than the will.”
“Life is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.”
“Not “what” to think but “how” to think.”
“Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.”
“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.”
“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
“Be happy, but never satisfied.”
“Happiness is good for the body, but sorrow strengthens to spirit.”
“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or in defeat.”
“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”
“Real living is living for others.”
“Learning is never cumulative, it is a movement of knowing which has no beginning and no end.”
“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”
“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”
“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.”
“Knowing is not enough; We must apply. Willing is not enough; We must do.”
“Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.”
“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”
“The best techniques are the simple ones executed right.”
“It is not how much you have learned, but how much you have absorbed in what you have learned.”
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
“If there is a God, he is within. You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.”
“If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.”
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
“Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.”
“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
“As you think, so shall you become.”
“It is not daily increase but daily decrease – hack away the unessential! The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.”
“It’s the will that makes men – success takes perseverance.”
“We are told that talent creates is own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.”
“Loneliness is only an opportunity to cut adrift and find yourself. In solitude you are least alone. Make good use of it.”
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
“Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.”
“You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.”
“A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.”
“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”
“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
“Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.”
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”
“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
“Obey the principles without being bound by them.”
“Time means a lot to me because you see I am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing.”
“Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.”
“Ideas are the beginning of all achievement – in every industry, in every profession.”
“The spiritual power of man’s will removes all obstacles.”
“Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain.”
“There is no such thing as defeat until you admit so yourself, but not until then!”
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”
“What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better.”
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.”
“The knowledge and skills you have achieved are meant to be forgotten so you can float comfortably in emptiness, without obstruction.”
“Sorrows are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope.”
“No one can hurt you unless you allow him to.”
“One must always strive to be better. The sky’s the limit.”
“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.”
“Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”
“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.”
“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you”
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.”
“Remember no man is really defeated unless he is discouraged.”
“What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become.”
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”
“In the middle of chaos lies opportunity.”
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.”
“Simplicity is the last step of art and the beginning of nature.”
“Your mental attitude determines what you make of it, either a stepping stone or stumbling block.”
“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 fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
“Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.”
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it become the cup. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
“The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.”
“Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today.”
“The more we value things, the less we value ourselves.”
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”
“Life is something for which there is no answer; it must be understood from moment to moment.”
“The possession of anything begins in the mind.”
“Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”
“Being able to find the correct conduct for a special situation is happiness – not a strict standard for every situation.”
“Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man’s mind can conceive and believe.”
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is unique your own.”
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
“Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.”
”It’s not what you give, it’s the way you give it.“
“Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.”
