Chechen > Chechen's Quotes

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, The Hagakure: A code to the way of samurai

“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this, you will awaken from your dreams.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material posessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“It is said that what is called "the spirit of an age" is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“When one is writing a letter, he should think that the recipient will make it into a hanging scroll.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.” Master Ittei commented, “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Respect, Honesty, Courage, Rectitude, Loyalty, Honour, Benevolence”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“in china there was once a man who liked pictures of dragons, and his clothing and furnishings were all designed accordingly. his deep affections for dragons was brought to the attention of the dragon god, and one day a real dragon appeared before his window. it is said that he died of fright. he was probably a man who always spoke big words but acted differently when facing the real thing.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Whether people be of high or low birth, rich or poor, old or young, enlightened or confused, they are all alike in that they will one day die.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo

“Although this may be a most difficult thing, if one will do it, it can be done. There is nothing that one should suppose cannot be done.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“No matter if the enemy has thousands of men, there is fulfillment in simply standing them off and being determined to cut them all down, starting from one end.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Continue to spur a running horse.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo

“Nothing is impossible in this world. Firm determination, it is said, can move heaven and earth. Things appear far beyond one's power, because one cannot set his heart on any arduous project due to want of strong will.”
― Yamamoto Tsunetomo

“If one has no earnest daily intention, does not consider what it is to be a warrior even in his dreams, and lives through the day idly, he can be said to be worthy of punishment.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
― Bruce Lee

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”
― Bruce Lee

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

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
― Bruce Lee

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
― Bruce Lee

“Be happy, but never satisfied.”
― Bruce Lee

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
― Bruce Lee

“Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”
― Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
― Bruce Lee

“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.”
― Bruce Lee

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
― Bruce Lee

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.”
― Bruce Lee

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”
― Bruce Lee