Quotes by Miyamoto Musashi

“What is essential is to suddenly make a move totally unexpected by the opponent, pick up on the advantage of fright, and seize the victory right then and there.”

“The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cu...”

“There is no one way to salvation, whatever the manner in which a man may proceed. All forms and variations are governed by the eternal intelligence of the Universe that enables a man to approach pe...”

“Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”

“I dreamt of worldly success once.”

“In my school, no consideration is given to anything unreasonable; the heart of the matter is to use the power of the knowledge of martial arts to gain victory any way you can.”

“From one thing, know ten thousand things.”

“As you get the rhythm you discern how to win.”

“Becoming the opponent means you should put yourself in an opponent's place and think from the opponent's point of view.”

“There is even rhythm in being empty.”

“1. Accept everything just the way it is.2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world...”

“Why would you want to appear as one thing and be another? If you are a warrior then you are a warrior and if you are not a warrior then you are not a warrior. The Way of the warrior is the Way of t...”

“Being like a rock wall" is when a master of martial arts suddenly becomes like a rock wall, inaccessible to anything at all, immovable.”

“A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study.”

“In the construction of houses, choice of woods is made. Straight un-knotted timber of good appearance is used for the revealed pillars, straight timber with small defects is used for the inner pill...”

“Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.”

“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.”

“Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.”

“Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. ”

“The Way is shown in five books concerning different aspects. These are Ground, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void. The body of the Way of strategy from the viewpoint of my Ichi school is explained in the ...”