The Lone Samurai Quotes

“See to it that you temper yourself with one thousand days of practice, and refine yourself with ten thousand days of training.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Musashi and Takuan both believed that the great mistake was being slowed or rendered immobile by what one sees, hears, feels, or thinks. For them, even an instant’s preoccupation could be fatal. Both body and mind must be free to flow and to respond to whatever the situation demands.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Musashi and Takuan both believed that the great mistake was being slowed or rendered immobile by what one sees, hears, feels, or thinks.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“What, really, do we do with our lives?”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“We must be careful not to create our own fetters or our own inflexibility.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“do not let your frame of mind be any different from your everyday mind.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Thus the student leaves by the same door through which he entered, and is no different than before. Yet, having internalized all of his practices, he is totally changed.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Think without any dishonesty. 2. Forge yourself in the Way. 3. Touch upon all of the arts. 4. Know the Ways of all occupations. 5. Know the advantages and disadvantages of everything. 6. Develop a discerning eye in all matters. 7. Understand what cannot be seen by the eye. 8. Pay attention to even small things. 9. Do not involve yourself with the impractical.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“When the Mind is correct, the brush will be also.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“The other schools get along with this as a performance art, as a method of making a living, as a colorful decoration, or as a means of forcing flowers to bloom. Yet, can it be the True Way if it has been made into a saleable item?”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Musashi could teach his techniques and give advice, but in the end each disciple was required to assess his own strength, find his own Way, and make that Way truly his own.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Your real intent should be not to die with weapons uselessly worn at your side.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“Nansen was asked by Joshu, ‘What is the Way?’ He replied, ‘Your everyday mind is the Way [Heijoshin kore do].”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

“the great is beyond ten feet square, the small enters the tiniest atom.”
― William Scott Wilson, The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi