“The true work of the martial arts is progress, not perfection”

“As a teenager in Brooklyn Quentin had often imagined himself engaged in martial heroics, but after this he knew, as a cold immutable fact, that he would do anything necessary, sacrificing whatever ...”

“Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn't happen. It was all dream stuff. Or was it all real and true and was it that she, Francie, was the dreamer?”

“Even the worst things about Devonairre Street are better than the rest of the city.”

“Daja: "He and Rosethorn work together? They hate each other." Lark: "I didn't say they liked it.- Daja and Lark referring to Rosethorn and Crane's cooperation on finding the cures for new diseases”

“The attitude of Tao is of cooperation, not conflict. The attitude of Tao is not to be against nature but to be with it, to allow nature, to let it have its way, to cooperate with it, to go with it....”

“To stop war, teach peace, love, cooperation, and most of allforgiveness.”

“The true work of the martial arts is progress, not perfection”

“ just as a stool requires three legs to stand upright so the taekwondoist must cultivate basic skills, meaningful forms, and effective sparring in order to have both feet firmly planted in the art”

“There is no "can't" in martial arts. It is perfectly all right for students to state that they are "still working on it", "have not mastered it yet", or "are trying as best they can" as all of thos...”