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Bruce Lee

Lee Jun-fan (27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973), commonly known as Bruce Lee, was a Hong Kong American martial artist and actor who is widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century.

Quotes

 * Note: Many of Bruce Lee's statements are derived from his own studies of various schools of philosophy and the martial arts, and are sometimes paraphrases of previous expressions by others which he wrote down for his own instruction.

 * Nowadays you don't go around on the street kicking people, punching people — because if you do (makes gun shape with hand), well that's it — I don't care how good you are.
 * Bruce Lee interview on the Pierre Berton Show (1971)

 * When I look around I always learn something, and that is to be yourself always, express yourself, and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate him. Now that seems to be the prevalent thing happening in Hong Kong, like they always copy mannerism, but they never start from the root of his being and that is, how can I be me?
 * Bruce Lee

 * You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I mean I don't want to be like "As Confucius say," but under the sky, under the heavens there is but one family. It just so happens man that people are different.
 * Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)

 * When you're talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body!
 * Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)

 * All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.
 * Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)

 * When I look around, I always learn something: to be always yourself, and to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
 * Radio interview with Ted Thomas (1972)

 * Boards don't hit back.
 * As "Mr. Lee" in Enter the Dragon (1973); Bruce Lee's character said this to Robert Wall's character "O'Hara", after the latter had broken a board in the air with his fist in an act of attempted intimidation.

 * A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract; and when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, "I" do not hit, "it" hits all by itself.
 * Bruce Lee: Enter the Dragon (1973); In a conversation with an older member of the temple.

 * '''Don't think, feel....it is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!
 * Bruce Lee: Enter the Dragon (1973); In a training session with one of the temple students.

 * Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.
 * As quoted in "From Wing Chun to Jeet Kune Do" by Jesse R. Glover in Black Belt Vol. 31, No. 9 (September 1993), p. 35

 * Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.
 * As quoted in Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit (1994) by Bruce Thomas (1994), p. 44

 * 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.
 * As quoted in Bruce Lee: Artist of Life (1999) edited by John R. Little, p. 192

 * There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.
 * As quoted in The Art of Expressing the Human Body (1998) edited by John R. Little, p. 23

 * Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle 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 Warrior's Journey (2000); here, Lee was reciting lines he wrote for his short lived role on the TV series Longstreet.

The surrounding utters no sound. Time ceases. The Paradise of Dreams come true.
 * For a moment
 * "For A Moment", Bruce Lee's hand-written poem, from Bruce Lee Papers — as quoted in Bruce Lee: Artist of Life (2001) edited by John Little, p. 100

Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975)

 * Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end.
 * p. 12

 * When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow — you are not understanding yourself.

 * Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.
 * p. 25

 * Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing. Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving of your whole being, without exclusion.
 * This statement probably derives from a famous one of Jiddu Krishnamurti: "Truth is a pathless land."

The Warrior Within: The Philosophies of Bruce Lee (1996)

 * To contemplate a thing implies maintaining oneself OUTSIDE it, resolved to keep a distance between it and ourselves.
 * p. 30

 * Running water never grows stale. So you just have to 'keep on flowing.'
 * p. 48

 * If one loves, one need not have an ideology of love.
 * p. 64

 * The happiness that is derived from excitement is like a brilliant fire — soon it will go out. Before we married, we never had the chance to go out to nightclubs. We only spent our nights watching TV and chatting. Many young couples live a very exciting life when they are in love. So, when they marry, and their lives are reduced to calmness and dullness, they will feel impatient and will drink the bitter cup of a sad marriage.
 * p. 66

 * Of course you’re there. Death is always there. So why was I afraid? Your leap is swift. Your claws are sharp and merciful. What can you take from me which is not already yours? . . . Everything I have done until now has been fruitless. It has led to nothing. There was no other path except that it led to nothing — and before me now there is only one real fact — Death. The truth I have been seeking — this truth is Death. Yet Death is also a seeker. Forever seeking me. So — we have met at last. And I am prepared. I am at peace. Because I will conquer death with death.
 * p. 77, spoken by Cord, the protagonist of the unproduced film The Silent Flute

 * Neither. I think of myself as a human being.
 * p. 87, when asked if he thought of himself as Chinese or American

 * The Three Stages of Cultivation — The first is the primitive stage. It is a stage of original ignorance in which a person knows nothing about the art of combat. In a fight, he simply blocks and strikes instinctively without a concern for what is right and wrong. Of course, he may not be so-called scientific, but, nevertheless, being himself, his attacks or defenses are fluid. The second stage — the stage of sophistication, or mechanical stage — begins when a person starts his training. He is taught the different ways of blocking, striking, kicking, standing, breathing, and thinking — unquestionably, he has gained the scientific knowledge of combat, but unfortunately his original self and sense of freedom are lost, and his action no longer flows by itself. His mind tends to freeze at different movements for calculations and analysis, and even worse, he might be called “intellectually bound” and maintain himself outside of the actual reality. The third stage — the stage of artlessness, or spontaneous stage — occurs when, after years of serious and hard practice, the student realizes that after all, gung fu is nothing special. And instead of trying to impose on his mind, he adjusts himself to his opponent like water pressing on an earthen wall. It flows through the slightest crack. There is nothing to try to do but try to be purposeless and formless, like water. All of his classical techniques and standard styles are minimized, if not wiped out, and nothingness prevails. He is no longer confined.
 * p. 108-109

 * Using no way as way; Having no limitation as limitation.
 * p. 112, "To further emphasize this principle [of transcending all styles and forms], Lee placed Chinese characters around the circumference of his jeet kune do emblem that read"

 * In Jeet Kune Do, it’s not how much you have learned, but how much you have absorbed from what you have learned. It is not how much fixed knowledge you can accumulate, but what you can apply livingly that counts. ‘Being’ is more valued than "doing".
 * p. 117

 * You have to keep your reflexes so that when you want it — it’s there. When you want to move — you are moving. And when you move, you are determined to move! Not accepting even one inch less than 100 percent of your honest feelings. Not anything less than that. So that is the type of thing you have to train yourself into. To become one with your feelings so that, when you think — it is.
 * p. 126

 * In life, what more can you ask for than to be real? To fulfill one’s potential instead of wasting energy on [attempting to] actualize one’s dissipating image, which is not real and an expenditure of one’s vital energy. We have great work ahead of us, and it needs devotion and much, much energy. To grow, to discover, we need involvement, which is something I experience every day — sometimes good, sometimes frustrating. No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness.
 * p. 126

 * None whatsoever.
 * When asked what major religion he was affiliated with in 1972 by journalist Alex Ben Block, p. 128

 * To be perfectly frank, I really do not.
 * When asked if he believed in God, p. 128

 * I believe in sleeping.
 * When asked by his brother Robert if he believed in God, p. 129

 * There is no such thing as maturity. There is instead an ever-evolving process of maturing. Because when there is a maturity, there is a conclusion and a cessation. That’s the end. That’s when the coffin is closed. You might be deteriorating physically in the long process of aging, but your personal process of daily discovery is ongoing. You continue to learn more and more about yourself every day.
 * p. 131

 * I have come to discover through earnest personal experience and dedicated learning that ultimately the greatest help is self-help; that there is no other help but self-help— doing one’s best, dedicating one’s self wholeheartedly to a given task, which happens to have no end but is an ongoing process. I have done a lot during these years of my process. A swell in my process, I have changed from self-image actualization to self-actualization, from blindly following propaganda, organized truths, etc. to searching internally for the cause of my ignorance.
 * p. 133

 * Whether or not we can get together, remember well that art “lives” where absolute freedom is. With all the training thrown to nowhere, with a mind (if there is such a verbal substance) perfectly unaware of its own working, with the “self” vanishing nowhere, the art of JKD attains its perfection.
 * p. 156

 * You must have complete determination. The worst opponent you can come across is one whose aim has become an obsession. For instance, if a man has decided that he is going to bite off your nose no matter what happens to him in the process, the chances are he will succeed in doing it. He may be severely beaten up, too, but that will not stop him from carrying out his objective. That is the real fighter.
 * p. 161

 * Walk on.
 * p. 174

Jeet Kune Do (1997)

 * Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way (1997) edited by John Little

 * Jeet Kune Do rejects all restrictions imposed by form and formality and emphasizes the clever use of the mind and body to defend and attack.
 * Part 2 "Jeet Kune Do — The Fundamentals"

 * An instructor should exemplify the things he seeks to teach. It will be of great advantage if you yourself can do all you ask of your students and more.
 * Part 5 "On training in Jeet Kune Do"

 * As an instructor, you must be able to distinguish between poor performance caused by lack of ability or aptitude on the part of the student and poor performance caused by lack of effort. You should treat the first with patience and the latter with firmness. You must never apply sarcasm and ridicule.
 * Part 5 "On training in Jeet Kune Do"

 * Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Take inventory of everyone with whom you have contact.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Faith is a state of mind that can be conditioned through self-discipline. Faith will accomplish.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man's mind can conceive and believe.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Possession of anything begins in the mind.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Thoughts are things.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * The intangible represents the real power of the universe. It is the seed of the tangible.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits.
 * Part 6 "Beyond System — The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

 * I'm in the midst of preparing my next movie, Enter the Dragon a coproduction between Concord and Warner Bros., plus another Concord production, The Game of Death, which is only halfway done
 * Part 6 "Beyond System - The Ultimate Source of Jeet Kune Do"

Striking Thoughts (2000)

 * Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (2000) edited by John Little

 Part I: On First Principles

 * Emptiness the starting point. — In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty.
 * p. 2

 * Life is wide, limitless. There is no border, no frontier.
 * p 2

 * Life lives; and in the living flow, no questions are raised. The reason is that life is a living now! So, in order to live life whole-heartedly, the answer is life simply is.
 * p. 3

 * The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a pattern of systems.
 * p. 3

 * The aphorism "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he" contains the secret of life.
 * p. 4; Lee here quotes Proverbs 23:7 "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

 * Meaning is found in relationship. — Meaning is the relationship of the foreground figure to the background.
 * p. 4

 * Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, unrhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.
 * p. 5

 * Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning.
 * p. 5

 * The primary reality is not what I think, but that I live, for those also live who do not think.
 * p. 7

 * The timeless moment. — The "moment" has no yesterday or tomorrow. It is not the result of thought and therefore has no time.
 * p. 9

 * Knowledge, surely, is always of time, whereas knowing is not of time. Knowledge is from a source, from accumulation, from conclusion, while knowing is a movement.
 * P. 9

 * To realize freedom the mind has to learn to look at life, which is a vast movement, without the bondage of time, for freedom lies beyond the field of consciousness — care for watching, but don't stop and interpret "I am free," then you're living in a memory of something that has gone before.
 * p. 9

 * To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to spend or waste, and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.
 * p. 10

 * Time means a lot to me because, you see, I, too, am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing and simplifying. If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
 * p. 10; Here Lee paraphrases a much older English proverb: If you care for life, don't waste your time; for time is what life is made of. (as quoted in Bordighera and the Western Riviera (1883) by Frederick Fitzroy Hamilton, p. 189).

 * Be aware of doing your best to understand the ROOT in life, and realize the DIRECT and the INDIRECT are in fact a complementary WHOLE. It is to see things as they are and not to become attached to anything — to be unconscious meant to be innocent of the working of a relative (empirical) mind — where there is no abiding of thought anywhere on anything — this is being unbound. This not abiding anywhere is the root of our life.
 * p. 11

 * Concentration is the ROOT of all the higher abilities in man.
 * p. 11

 * Seek to understand the root. — It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branch, or which attractive flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.
 * p. 11

 * What we are after is the ROOT and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds "body feel" and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity.
 * p. 11

 Part II: On Being Human

 * Flow in the living moment. — We are always in a process of becoming and NOTHING is fixed. Have no rigid system in you, and you'll be flexible to change with the ever changing. OPEN yourself and flow, my friend. Flow in the TOTAL OPENNESS OF THE LIVING MOMENT. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.
 * p. 13; Unsourced variant: Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

 * You cannot force the Now. — But can you neither condemn nor justify and yet be extraordinarily alive as you walk on? You can never invite the wind, but you must leave the window open.
 * p. 13

 * The Moment is freedom. — I couldn't live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them.
 * p. 13

 * The Now is indivisible. — Completeness, the now, is an absence of the conscious mind to strive to divide that which is indivisible. For once the completeness of things is taken apart it is no longer complete.
 * p. 15

 * The Western approach to reality is mostly through theory, and theory begins by denying reality — to talk about reality, to go around reality, to catch anything that attracts our sense-intellect and abstract it away from reality itself. Thus philosophy begins by saying that the outside world is not a basic fact, that its existence can be doubted and that every proposition in which the reality of the outside world is affirmed is not an evident proposition but one that needs to be divided, dissected and analyzed. It is to stand consciously aside and try to square a circle.
 * p. 15 - 16

 * In Science we have finally come back to the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, who said everything is flow, flux, process. There are no "things." NOTHINGNESS in Eastern language is "no-thingness". We in the West think of nothingness as a void, an emptiness, an nonexistence. In Eastern philosophy and modern physical science, nothingness — no-thingness — is a form of process, ever moving.
 * p. 16

 * What IS is more important than WHAT SHOULD BE. To many people are looking at "what is" from a position of thinking "what should be."
 * p. 16

 * Conditioning obstructs our view of reality. — We do not see IT in its suchness because of our indoctrination, crooked and twisted.
 * p. 19

 * True thusness is without defiling thought; it cannot be known through conception and thought.

 * Reality is apparent when one ceases to compare. — There is "what is" only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful.
 * p. 19

 * Reality is being itself. — It is being itself, in becoming itself. Reality in its isness, the "isness" of a thing. Thus isness is the meaning — having freedom in its primary sense — not limited by attachments, confinements, partialization, complexities.
 * p. 19

 * A self-willed man obeys a different law, the one law I, too, hold absolutely sacred — the human law in himself, his own individual will.
 * p. 19

 * One should be in harmony with, not in opposition to, the strength and force of the opposition. This means that one should do nothing that is not natural or spontaneous; the important thing is not to strain in any way.
 * p. 20

 * The dualistic philosophy reigned supreme in Europe, dominating the development of Western science. But with the advent of atomic physics, findings based on demonstrable experiment were seen to negate the dualistic theory, and the trend of thought since then has been back to the monistic conception of the ancient Taoists.
 * p.. 21

 * If thought exists, I who think and the world about which I think also exist; the one exists but for the other, having no possible separation between them. Therefore, the world and I are both in active correlation; I am that which sees the world, and the world is that which is seen by me. I exist for the world and the world exists for me. … One sure and primary and fundamental fact is the joint existence of a subject and of its world. The one does not exist without the other. I acquire no understanding of myself except as I take account of objects, of the surroundings. I do not think unless I think of things — and there I find myself.
 * p. 21

 * When we hold to the core, the opposite sides are the same if they are seen from the center of the moving circle. I do not experience; I am experience. I am not the subject of experience; I am that experience. I am awareness. Nothing else can be I or can exist.
 * p. 22

 * Taoist philosophy … is essentially monistic. … Matter and energy, Yang and Yin, heaven and earth, are conceived of as essentially one or as two coexistent poles of one indivisible whole.
 * p. 23

 * Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between this and that. The void is all-inclusive; having no opposite, there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. The all illuminating light shines and is beyond the movement of the opposites.
 * p. 23

 * Like everyone else you want to learn the way to win. But never to accept the way to lose. To accept defeat — to learn to die — is to be liberated from it. Once you accept, you are free to flow and to harmonize. Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.
 * p. 25; Variant: Like everyone else you want to learn the way to win, but never to accept the way to lose — to accept defeat. To learn to die is to be liberated from it. So when tomorrow comes you must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying!
 * As quoted in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000)

 Part III: On Matters of Existence

 * True thusness is the substance of thought, and thought is the function of true thusness. There is no thought except that of true thusness. Thusness does not move, but its motion and function are inexhaustible.
 * p. 42

 * Liberate yourself from concepts and see the truth with your own eyes. — It exists HERE and NOW; it requires only one thing to see it: openness, freedom — the freedom to be open and not tethered by any ideas, concepts, etc. … When our mind is tranquil, there will be an occasional pause to its feverish activities, there will be a let-go, and it is only then in the interval between two thoughts that a flash of UNDERSTANDING — understanding, which is not thought — can take place.
 * p. 43

 * Balance your thoughts with action. — If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
 * p. 43

 Part IV: On Achievement

 * Concepts vs. self-actualization. — Instead of dedicating your life to actualize a concept of what you should be like, ACTUALIZE YOURSELF. The process of maturing does not mean to become a captive of conceptualization. It is to come to the realization of what lies in our innermost selves.
 * p. 44

 *  Life is better lived than conceptualized. — This writing can be less demanding should I allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I've come to understand that life is best to be lived — not to be conceptualized. If you have to think, you still do not understand.
 * p. 45

 * Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.
 * p. 46

 Part VIII: On Ultimate (Final) Principles

 * What you HABITUALLY THINK largely determines what you will ultimately become.
 * p. 120; This probably derives from a Rosicrucian proverb, "As you think, so shall you become", which is itself probably derived from Proverbs 23:7 "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."
 * Possibly, but more likely derived from the Buddha: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become."

 * Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. — To realize that it's just an inconvenience, that it is not a catastrophe, but just an unpleasantness, is part of coming into your own, part of waking up.
 * p. 120

 * The change is from inner to outer. — We start by dissolving our attitude not by altering outer conditions.
 * p. 120

 * 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.
 * p. 120

 *  Cease negative mental chattering. — If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.
 * p. 121

 * A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.
 * p. 121; this likely derives from the observation of Joseph Joubert: The goal is not always meant to be reached, but to serve as a mark for our aim.
 * As translated by Katharine Lyttelton, in Joubert: A Selection from His Thoughts (1899)

 * Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
 * p. 121

 * Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own.
 * p. 176

Attributed

 * When asked what the difference between a karate punch and a kung-fu punch was during his first U.S. screen test in 1965, Bruce Lee replied, “Well, a karate punch is like being hit by an iron bar—whack! A kung-fu punch is like being hit by an iron ball swung on an iron chain with an iron ball attached to the end—it goes WHANG!—and it hurts inside.” Then he stood up and showed exactly what that might look like in a flurry of hands and feet moving so fast they blurred.
 * Attributed in "The Kato Show: Bruce Lee as The Green Hornet's Sidekick" by NEWSWEEK SPECIAL EDITION, (11/20/15)

 * Bruce Lee was grateful to those who helped his career. When The Green Hornet was cancelled, he wrote to producer William Dozier to say, "I like (sic) to take this opportunity to thank you personally for all that you've done to start my career in show business. Without you, I would never have thought about being in Hollywood. I've gained tremendous experience from the Green Hornet and believe I've improved steadily since the first showthat of minimizing and hacking away the unessential."
 * Attributed in "Bruce Lee Steals the Show in “The Green Hornet"” by the American Heritage Center Blog, (3/16/2020). Quote comes from the letter preserved in the William Dozier Papers at the American Heritage Center.

Misattributed

 * The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "against" is the mind's worst disease.
 * In "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" by Bruce Lee (1975, compiled and published posthumously) and also in Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (2000) edited by John Little, this is attributed to Lee, perhaps because it was found in his notes, but it is also quoted in precisely this form, from what appear to be translations of Taoist writings in The Religions of Man (1958) by Huston Smith. It is actually from Xinxin Ming, by the Third Chinese Chan [Zen] Patriarch Sengcan.

Quotes about Bruce Lee

 * My friend Bruce Lee

“Bruce Lee lived martial arts every day! He could do things in the martial arts that others could not. He was very friendly and outgoing and usually the center of attention. We met after the national championships in 1964 during a dinner. Because I had just won the championship, he immediately challenged me.

He said, “I want to challenge you to an arm wrestling match.”

I thought this guy barely weighs 120 pounds soaking wet. This will be simple, and I immediately accepted his challenge.

Then he said, “But we’re going to arm wrestle — Chinese style.”

I agreed since I really thought I could take him any way that he wanted to wrestle. At the time, I weighed about 225 pounds to his 120 pounds. So we got to it, and I will confess that trying to twist his arm was like trying to twist a piece of steel!

He looked at me and smiled while I was giving it all I had. Then he just dumped me over like it was nothing at all. He was quite a martial artist– the best I’ve ever seen. Yet with skill that masterful, he was always very warm and friendly — the kind of guy everyone wanted to meet.”

J. Pat Burleson .https://professionalblackbeltassociation.com/2018/03/01/j-pat-burleson-talks-about-his-experience-with-bruce-lee/ - Skipper Mullins interview https://www.usadojo.com/skipper-mullins-interview/
 * I would have picked Bruce in any street situation. He had the the knowledge and attitude to carry him through anything.
 * When I was having dinner with Chuck Norris I did ask him: "If you and Bruce would be in a real fight to death, who would win?", and he said without thinking: "Bruce of course. Nobody can beat him."
 * John Benn, in audio commentary on DVD of The Way of the Dragon (US title: Return of the Dragon).

 * I wouldn't have put a dime on anyone to beat Bruce Lee in a real confrontation. Bruce Lee was the best street fighter I ever saw, even to this very day, and not just pound for pound — but against anyone in a real fight.
 * James Demile in a Temple of the Unknown interview (10 April 2001)

 * There's no doubt in my mind that if Bruce Lee had gone into pro boxing, he could easily have ranked in the top three in the lightweight division or junior-welterweight division.
 * Dan Inosanto, as quoted in "The Truth of Boxing: A Critical Look at Bruce Lee's Hand Skills" by Bob Birchland in Black Belt Magazine (November 2007). pg. 93)

 * The slender, swift Bruce Lee was the Fred Astaire of martial arts, and many of the fights that could be merely brutal come across as lightning-fast choreography.
 * Pauline Kael reviewing Enter the Dragon, from 5001 Nights at the Movies (1982)

 * I wanted to do in boxing what Bruce Lee was able to do in the martial arts. Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to get beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want my fights to be seen as plays.
 * Sugar Ray Leonard, as quoted at Bruce Lee Links

 * In a dictionary, you say "greatest", you say "Bruce Lee", that's the way it is. He is second to no one.
 * Sugar Ray Leonard (from minute 3.46 to 3.57)

 * When Bruce Lee kicked, you don't shut your eyes. Because when you shut your eyes, you cannot see Bruce Lee kick it's so fast! Human beings cannot move like cartoon [sound effects], that's the fastest you can be. Even Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, their punches are fast, but you still can see [them].
 * Jackie Chan

 * If Bruce Lee wasn't the greatest martial artist of all time, then certainly he is the number one candidate.
 * Joe Lewis, quoted at Realfighting.com Temple of the Unknown

 * I considered him by far the greatest. And for those who don't considering him the greatest, at least he is the top candidate for being actually the greatest.
 * Joe Lewis, quoted in "Death by Misadventure" (from minute 5.54 to 6.04)

 * Every kid, I believe, in America noticed that guy behind The Green Hornet— the one who could kick, the one who could punch, the one who could move so amazingly—all eyes centered on him.
 * The makers of The Green Hornet had to actively restrain Bruce Lee from being himself because they realized every time they saw the rushes that everything else was wiped off-screen.
 * Ric Meyers as quoted in "The Kato Show: Bruce Lee as The Green Hornet's Sidekick" by NEWSWEEK SPECIAL EDITION, (11/20/15)

 * I remember many times my father (Ed Parker) talking about, pound for pound, Lee was the best martial artist, he'd ever seen.
 * Ed Parker Jr., quoted in the documentary "Bruce Lee: Curse of the Dragon", 1993 Warner Bros. Tom Kuhn Fred Weintraub

 * Bruce Lee is my idol. I need to learn some techniques of Bruce Lee, especially the quickness of his hands and legs.
 * Manny Pacquiao

 * It's a little tough for the traditional martial artists to swallow, because one system doesn't do it. You've got to cross-train in many different systems. Actually, the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee. If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away.
 * Dana White in Fight Times magazine

 * His martial art skills made Lee arguably the greatest martial artist of his time — or any other.
 * Bill Duff in the martial arts / fight sport documentary Human Weapon by The History Channel, episode 10: "China and Kung Fu", aired November 2, 2007. / Minute 1:02 to 1:10

 * The story was particularly serious . . . I know Bruce Lee from secondary school in Nigeria. I come from Ghana, and there has always been a race, a loving rivalry between two countries. So I was picked on. Every child who is bullied, has an imaginary hero. I had several, and Bruce Lee was the greatest. Every little boy has a little bit of Bruce Lee in him.
 * Komla Dumor, reporter. See BBC, "Komla Dumor Tribute," (40:00) from "Kiev: the Story of Hrushevsky Street," The Fifth Floor, first broadcast on BBC World Service, 12:06PM Fri, 24 Jan 2014.

title: Bruce Lee


text:
Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness (also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness) is a 1993 film about a man who is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home. It is a sequel to The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2.
 * Directed by Sam Raimi. Written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi.

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas. Taglines

Ash

 * My name is Ash, and I am a slave. As far as I can figure, the year is 1300 AD, and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this. I had a real life once, a job. [now Ash is in a flashback] Hardware, aisle twelve. Shop smart: shop S-Mart! [back to monologue] I had a wonderful girlfriend, Linda. [Flashback: Ash and Linda at the cabin] Together we drove to a small cabin in the mountains. It seems an archaeologist had come to this remote place to translate and study his latest find: Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, The Book of the Dead. Bound in human flesh and inked in blood, this ancient Sumerian text contained bizarre burial rites, funerary incantations and demon resurrection passages. It was never meant for the world of the living. The book awoke something dark in the woods. [something crashes through the window of the cabin and Linda screams] It took Linda, and then it came for me. It got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist. [Ash is seen cutting off his hand] But that didn't stop it. It came back... Big time. [Ash gets pulled into the vortex holding onto the doorway] For God's sake! How do you stop it?!
 * All right, you primitive screw-heads, listen up! See this? This... is my 'BOOMSTICK!' - [continuing nonchalantly] - It's a twelve-gauge, double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt-blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right... shop smart: shop S-Mart... YA GOT THAT?!
 * Now I swear, the next one of you primates even touches me... [yells, shoots at the pit Deadite, then shoots again]
 * First you wanna kill me, now you wanna kiss me. [spits out grape seed] Blow.
 * Yo, she-bitch! Let's go!
 * It's a trick. Get an axe.
 * [trying out his new prosthetic gloved hand] Groovy!
 * [about to kiss Sheila] Gimme some sugar, baby.
 * Good, bad... I'm the guy with the gun.
 * Three books? Wait a minute... hold it. Nobody said anything about three books! Ooh, that stinkin' wiseman! He was so busy fillin' me full of his secret little words and his phrases and his BULLSHIT, that he never said anything about this!
 * Klaatu Barada NNNNNNecktie. Nectar. Nickel. Noodle. It's an "N" word, it's definitely an "N" word! Klaatu... Barada... N [clears his throat into his hand, then pauses] Okay... that's it!
 * Keep your damn filthy bones outta my mouth!
 * [crushing skeletons with boulders] OH, THAT'S GOTTA HURT!
 * [sets "Evil Ash" on fire, then swings towards him on a rope] TALLY HOOOO! [kicks him off the castle wall]
 * [final monologue] Sure I could've stayed in the past. Could've even been king. But in my own way, I am king.
 * [Last Lines] Hail to the king, baby!

"Evil Ash"

 * Dig, damn you! Dig faster! I shall command every worm-infested son of a bitch that ever died in battle!
 * OOH, YOU MISERABLE BAGS OF BONES! PICK YOURSELVES UP, AND SALLY Fagghh- [jaw dislocates; he relocates it] SALLY Fagghh- [jaw dislocates again; he relocates it again] ...sally forth.
 * [fighting Ash] You're pissin' me off, you ugly son of a bitch!
 * [fighting Ash] I'll spoil those good looks!
 * [after being burned and reduced to a skeleton by Ash] I got a bone to pick with you!

Dialogue

 * Duke Henry: You're not one of my vassals... who are you?
 * Ash: Who wants to know?
 * Duke Henry: I am Henry the Red, Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northland and leader of its peoples.
 * Ash: Well, hello, Mister Fancypants! I've got news for you, pal, you ain't leadin' but two things right now: Jack and shit... and Jack left town.

 * Wiseman: This path will lead you to an unholy place, a cemetery. There, the Necronomicon awaits. When thou retrievest the book from its cradle, you must recite the words "Klaatu Barada Nikto".
 * Ash: "Klaatu Barada Nikto." Okay...
 * Wiseman: Well, repeat them.
 * Ash: [exasperated] "Klaatu Barada Nikto".
 * Wiseman: Again!
 * Ash: I GOT IT, I GOT IT! I know your damn words, all right?! Now you get this straight, the both of ya: if I get that book, you send me back. After that, I'm history.

 * Ash: [attacked by miniature versions of himself] Oh, you little bastards! All right! I'll crush each and every one of ya! I'll crush you to PIECES, I'm telling ya! I'll squash you so hard, you'll have to look up to look down--
 * "Mini Ash": Hey, dumbass! [drops a bucket down onto his head]

 * Ash: What are you? Are you me?
 * "Evil Ash": "What are do? Are you me?" HAHAHOOHOOHOOHOO! You sound like a jerk!
 * Ash: Why ya doin' this, huh?
 * "Evil Ash": Oh, you wanna know? 'Cause the answer's easy! I'm BAD Ash... and you're GOOD Ash! You're a goody little two-shoes! [doing a taunting dance] You're a goody little two-shoes! Little goody two-shoes! Little goody two-shoes! [begins to sucker-punch Ash] Little goody TWO-SHOES! Little goody TWO-SHOES! HEHEHEHEHE! [honks] LITTLE GOODY TWO-SHOES! HEHEHE--
 * [from the Theatrical Cut]
 * Ash: [fires shotgun at "Evil Ash"] Good, bad... I'm the guy with the gun.
 * [from Director's Cut]
 * Ash: [cocks shotgun, points it under "Evil Ash"'s nose and fires] I ain't that good.

 * Wiseman: When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words?
 * Ash: Yeah, basically.
 * Wiseman: Did you speak the exact words?!
 * Ash: Look, maybe I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no, but basically I said them, yeah!
 * Wiseman: Dung-eating fool! Thou hast doomed us all! When thou misspoke the words, the army of the dead awoke!
 * Ash: Now whoa, whoa, whoa right there, spinach-chin!

 * Scout: My Lord, an army of the dead gather in the wilderness, and they approach the castle.
 * Lord Arthur: How far from here?
 * Scout: 'Bout two days' ride.
 * Lord Arthur: Then these winged ones are only the first of them.
 * Wiseman: Perhaps we should leave this place as soon as possible?
 * Man 1: We can be safe in the hills!
 * Man 2: Yes, the mountains!
 * Wiseman: It is written, Arthur! It is been foretold!
 * Man 1: They'll take our souls!
 * Man 2: I'm afraid!
 * Man 1: They'll swallow our souls!
 * Man 2: And we're about to DIE!
 * [Ash silences the panic with a gunshot]
 * Ash: That's it. Go ahead and run! Run home and cry to mama! Me? I'M THROUGH RUNNING! I say we stay here and fight it out.
 * Lord Arthur: Are all men from the future loudmouthed braggarts?!
 * Ash: Nope. Just me, baby. Just me.

 * Possessed Sheila: You found me beautiful once...
 * Ash: Honey, you got reeeal ugly!

 * Ash: Lady, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store.
 * Possessed woman: Who the hell are you?!
 * Ash: Name's Ash. [cocks rifle] Housewares. [then a fight breaks out, and he shoots the Possessed Woman in the stomach makes her fly backwards and lands on her feet]
 * Possessed Woman: [Looks at seeing a hole in her stomach, then gets mad and looks at Ash] I'll swallow your soul!
 * Ash: Come get some.

Taglines

 * Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas
 * 1 man, 1 million dead, the odds are just about even.
 * They move. They breathe. They suck.
 * Get ready. Get set. Get dead.
 * Foretold by a mystical book. Forewarned by a wiseman. Fulfilled by a wiseguy.
 * Sound the trumpets, raise the drawbridge, and drop the Oldsmobile.
 * They're looking for a few dead men.
 * How can you destroy an army that's already dead?
 * In an age of darkness, at a time of evil... When the world needed a hero, what it got was him.

Cast

 * Bruce Campbell - Ashley J. "Ash" Williams/"Evil Ash"
 * Embeth Davidtz - Sheila
 * Marcus Gilbert - Lord Arthur
 * Ian Abercrombie - Wiseman
 * Richard Grove - Duke Henry the Red
 * Timothy Patrick Quill - Blacksmith
 * Michael Earl Reid - Gold Tooth
 * Bridget Fonda - Linda
 * Patricia Tallman - Possessed Witch
 * Ted Raimi - Cowardly Warrior/Second Supportive Villager/S-Mart Clerk

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Army of Darkness


text:
David Ortiz

David Américo Ortiz Arias (born 18 November 1975) is retired professional baseball player who played for the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox. He won 3 championships with Boston, and was named the 2004 American League Championship Series MVP.

Quotes

 * We keep on fighting, we keep on playing. We won tonight and we're going to try to keep on winning.

 * I just love the feeling from the fans and when I'm walking on deck I can hear people screaming and wishing you the best. That puts you into the game more than anything.

 * This is our fucking city! And nobody is gonna dictate our freedom. Stay Strong! (After the Boston Marathon Bombings)
 * Biography at biggeststars.com

title: David Ortiz


text:
User:Gidds

See my home page, for what it's worth.

title: User:Gidds


text:
Tom Lehrer

Thomas Andrew Lehrer (born 9 April 1928) American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician.

Quotes

 * Alas, irreverence has been subsumed by mere grossness, at least in the so-called mass media. What we have now — to quote myself at my most pretentious — is a nimiety of scurrility with a concomitant exiguity of taste. For example, the freedom (hooray!) to say almost anything you want on television about society's problems has been co-opted (alas!) by the freedom to talk instead about flatulence, orgasms, genitalia, masturbation, etc., etc., and to replace real comment with pop-culture references and so-called "adult" language. Irreverence is easy — what's hard is wit.
 * On the current state of satire, in Rhino Records online chat (17 June 1997)

 * Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
 * On the awarding of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger, and Lê Ðức Thọ; one of his most quoted quips, it is often mentioned in articles and interviews, including "Stop clapping, this is serious" in Sydney Morning Herald (1 March 2003)

Does his thing, and voila! Q.E.D., we agree, And we all shout hurrah! As he confirms what Fermat Jotted down in that margin, Which could've used some enlargin'.
 * Andrew Wiles gently smiles,
 * That's Mathematics (verse added in 1993 to celebrate the achievement of Andrew Wiles)

 * No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has "The Truth". To be an atheist is almost as arrogant as to be a fundamentalist. But then again, I can get pretty arrogant.
 * Responding to a question on whether he considered himself an atheist or an agnostic, in an interview at celebathiests.com (June 1996)

 * I find enough mystery in mathematics to satisfy my spiritual needs. I think, for example, that pi is mysterious enough (don't get me started!) without having to worry about God. Or if pi isn't enough, how about fractals? or quantum mechanics?
 * Interview at celebathiests.com (June 1996)

Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953)

 * I would like to state at this time that I am not now and have never been... a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Their motto is, as you know, "Be Prepared!" and that is the name of this song.
 * Introduction to "Be Prepared"

Unless you get a good percentage of her price.
 * Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice,
 * "Be Prepared"

And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined, Don't be nervous, don't be flustered, don't be scared. Be prepared!
 * If you're looking for adventure of a new and different kind,
 * "Be Prepared"

 * I always like to make explicit the fact that before I went off not too long ago to fight in the trenches, I was a mathematician by profession. I don't like people to get the idea that I have to do this for a living. I mean, it isn't as though I had to do this, you know, I could be making, oh, $3,000 a year just teaching.
 * Intro to "Lobachevsky"

In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize! Plagiarize, Let no one else's work evade your eyes, Remember why the good Lord made your eyes, So don't shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure always to call it please "research".
 * I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky.
 * "Lobachevsky"

I'll lose my virility And you your fertility And desirability, And this liability Of total sterility Will lead to hostility And a sense of futility, So let's act with agility While we still have facility, For we'll soon reach senility And lose the ability.'''
 * '''In all probability
 * "When You Are Old and Grey"

I press it to my lips. I take a healthy bite From your dainty fingertips. My joy would be complete, dear, If you were only here, But still I keep your hand As a precious souvenir.
 * I hold your hand in mine, dear,
 * "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"

 * You know, of all the songs I have ever sung, that is the one I've had the most requests not to.
 * Afterword to "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"

An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer (1959)

 * Live performances recorded in Sanders Theater at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (20-21 March 1959)

 * I'd like to take you now, on wings of song as it were, and try and help you forget for a while your drab, wretched lives.
 * Introduction to "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

On a spring afternoon, When we're poisoning pigeons in the park. Every Sunday you'll see My sweetheart and me, As we poison the pigeons in the park.
 * All the world seems in tune
 * "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide. My pulse will be quickenin', With each drop of strych-a-nine, We feed to a pigeon it just takes a smidgen To poison a pigeon in the park.
 * When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide,
 * "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

 * Oh, soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife. Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life. Oooh.
 * "Bright College Days"

 * A few years ago, a motion picture version appeared of Sophocles' immortal tragedy "Oedipus Rex". This picture played only in the so-called art theaters, and it was not a financial success. And I maintain that the reason it was not a financial success... you're way ahead of me... was that it did not have a title tune which the people could hum, and which would make them actually eager to attend this particular...flick. So, I've attempted to supply this, and here then is the prospective title song from "Oedipus Rex".
 * Intro to "Oedipus Rex"

You may have heard about his odd complex. His name appears in Freud's index 'Cause he loved his mother.
 * There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex,
 * "Oedipus Rex"

That as a monarch he was most unfit. But still in all they had to admit That he loved his mother.
 * His rivals used to say quite a bit
 * "Oedipus Rex"

His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. One thing on which you can depend is, He sure knew who a boy's best friend is.
 * Yes, he loved his mother like no other,
 * "Oedipus Rex"

Now and then, have a chat! Buy her candy or some flowers or a brand-new hat But maybe you best let it go at that! Or you may find yourself with a quite complex ...Com-plex! ...and... You may end up like Oedipus I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus! Than end up like poor Oedipus Rex!
 * So be sweet and kind to mother
 * "Oedipus Rex", final stanza

 * The usual jokes about the Army aside, one of the many fine things one has to admit is the way that the Army has carried the American democratic ideal to its logical conclusion, in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed and color, but also on the grounds of ability.
 * Introduction to "It Makes a Fellow Proud to be a Soldier"

 * I recall this sergeant's informing me and my "room-mates" of this rather deplorable fact the army didn't have any official, excuse me, didn't have no official song and suggested that we work on this in our copious free time.
 * Introduction to "It Makes a Fellow Proud to be a Soldier"

But much more for the touch of your whips, dear. You can raise welts Like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.
 * I ache for the touch of your lips, dear,
 * "The Masochism Tango"

And burn your initials in my shoulder. Fracture my spine, And swear that you're mine, As we dance to the Masochism Tango.
 * Take your cigarette from its holder,
 * "The Masochism Tango"

 * "Life is like a sewer — what you get out of it depends on what you put into it." It's always seemed to me that this is precisely the sort of dynamic, positive thinking that we so desperately need today in these trying times of crisis and universal brouhaha.
 * Introduction to "We Will All Go Together When We Go"

Every Hottentot and every Eskimo When We will all go simultaneous Oh, we all will go together when we go.
 * We will all go together when we go
 * "We Will All Go Together When We Go"

That Was the Year That Was (1965)

 * I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that
 * Introduction to "National Brotherhood Week"
 * Any ideas expressed on this record should not be taken as representing Mr. Lehrer's true convictions, for indeed he has none. "If anyone objects to any statement I make," he has said, "I am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also to deny under oath that I ever made it."
 * Liner notes

 * I do have a cause, though. It is obscenity. I'm for it.
 * Introduction to "Smut"

 * But don't panic. Base eight is just like base ten really — if you're missing two fingers.
 * "New Math"

It was that of a lady named Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, who had, in her lifetime, managed to acquire as lovers practically all of the top creative men in central Europe. And, among these lovers, who were listed in the obituary, by the way, which is what made it so interesting, there were three whom she went so far as to marry: One of the leading composers of the day, Gustav Mahler, composer of "Das Lied von der Erde" and other light classics, one of the leading architects, Walter Gropius, of the "Bauhaus" school of design, and one of the leading writers, Franz Werfel, author of the "Song of Bernadette" and other masterpieces. ''' It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.'''
 * Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read.
 * Introduction to "Alma"

Was Alma, the smartest as well. Once you picked her up on your antenna, You'd never be free of her spell.
 * The loveliest girl in Vienna
 * "Alma"

Who knew how to receive and to give. The body that reached her embalma' Was one that had known how to live.
 * And that is the story of Alma,
 * "Alma"

 * Speaking of love, one problem that recurs more and more frequently these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people to communicate with the people they love: husbands and wives who can't communicate, children who can't communicate with their parents, and so on. And the characters in these books and plays and so on, and in real life, I might add, spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can't communicate. I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up.
 * Afterword to "Alma"

 * I feel that if any songs are gonna come out of World War III, we'd better start writing them now.
 * Introduction to "So Long Mom (A Song For World War III)

Step into that small confessional. There the guy who's got religion'll Tell you if your sin's original. If it is, try playin' it safer, Drink the wine and chew the wafer, Two, four, six, eight, Time to transubstantiate!
 * Get in line in that processional,
 * "The Vatican Rag"

Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
 * So get down upon your knees,
 * "The Vatican Rag"

I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another, and I know there are people in the world who do not love their fellow human beings — and I hate people like that!
 * During National Brotherhood Week various special events are arranged to drive home the message of brotherhood — this year, for example, on the first day of the week, Malcolm X was killed, which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is.
 * Introduction to "National Brotherhood Week"

And the black folks hate the white folks; To hate all but the right folks Is an old established rule.
 * Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
 * "National Brotherhood Week"

And the rich folks hate the poor folks. All of my folks hate all of your folks, It's American as apple pie.
 * Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
 * "National Brotherhood Week"

Of someone you can't stand, You can tolerate him if you try!
 * Step up and shake the hand
 * "National Brotherhood Week"

And the Catholics hate the Protestants, And the Hindus hate the Moslems, And everybody hates the Jews.'''
 * '''Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
 * "National Brotherhood Week"

Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!
 * It's only for a week so have no fear!
 * "National Brotherhood Week", closing stanza

 * What is it that put America in the forefront of the nuclear nations? And what is it that will make it possible to spend twenty billion dollars of your money to put some clown on the moon? Well, it was good old American know how, that's what, as provided by good old Americans like Dr. Wernher von Braun!
 * Introduction to "Wernher Von Braun"

Say rather that he's apolitical. "Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.
 * Don't say that he's hypocritical,
 * "Wernher Von Braun"

People interview (1982)

 * "Fifties Troubadour Tom Lehrer Revives Some Sing-Along Satires That Haven't Lost Their Bite" People (11 January 1982)

 * But things I once thought were funny are scary now. I often feel like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava.

 * People do their best satirical work when they’re young. I’m not interested in saying only the nasty. My mind doesn’t run that way anymore. I don’t know if the times are changing or I am.

Insider Audio interview (1997)

 * Conversation with Tom Lehrer, September 7 1997

 * I really don't consider myself a performer by temperament.

 * I don't appreciate poetry--I don't mind admitting that now, I don't understand poetry. We studied it in high school and college, but they never told us why it was good. I got A's on all the exams--"Hail to thee blithe spirit, bird thou never wert"-- what the hell does that mean? I have no idea.

 * I remember when Richard Pryor said something about how in South Africa, all the black people should pick up guns and kill all the white people, and they went right on with the interview, and nobody stopped him on that. "Oh good old Richard, what a card." As long as you're billed as a comedian, I guess you can say anything.

AV Club interview (2000)

 * AV Club (May 24 2000)

 * I think the people who say we need satire often mean, "We need satire of them, not of us."

 * People are stupider than anybody.

Sydney Morning Herald interview (2003)

 * Sydney Morning Herald (1 March 2003)

 * I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them. … And that's not funny. … OK, well, if I say that, I might get a shock laugh, but it's not really satire.

'''I have become, you might call it mature — I would call it senile — and I can see both sides. But you can't write a satirical song with 'but on the other hand' in it, or 'however'. It's got to be one-sided.'''
 * Things are much more complicated. Feminism versus pornography, for example. There are a lot of feminists who think it is bad, but others think it's good.

 * The real issues I don't think most people touch. The Clinton jokes are all about Monica Lewinsky and all that stuff and not about the important things, like the fact that he wouldn't ban landmines.

 * One of the problems I see with these comics on television, particularly cable television, is, since you can say anything in terms of sex and scatological references and so on, therefore, you should do it. So they all limit themselves to these subjects and this vocabulary. My objection is that it is a lack of articulateness … Irreverence is easy, but what is hard is wit. Wit is what these comedians lack.

The audiences like to think that satire is doing something. But, in fact, it is mostly to leave themselves satisfied. Satisfied rather than angry, which is what they should be.
 * The audience usually has to be with you, I'm afraid. I always regarded myself as not even preaching to the converted, I was titillating the converted.

 * You can make fun with Saddam Hussein jokes … but you can't make fun of, say, the concentration camps. I think my target was not so much evil, but benign stupidity people doing stupid things without realising or, instead, thinking they were doing good.

Quotes about Lehrer

 * Sorted alphabetically by author or source

 * Dear Mr. Lehrer:
 * I am sorry to inform you that there is no interest in your
 * "ALBUM OF SONGS".
 * Thank you for submitting your songs to us.
 * Sincerely,
 * CAPITOL RECORDS, INC.
 * Rejection letter from Capitol Records (27 January 1954)

 * The best musical satirist of the 20th Century.
 * Dr. Demento

 * Lehrer was able to express and to expose, in humorous verse and lilting music, some of the most powerful dangers of the second half of the century … Many of the causes of which Lehrer sang became, three decades later, part of the main creative impulse of mankind.
 * Sir Martin Gilbert, historian, who in 1999 named Lehrer as one of the 10 great figures of the previous 100 years

 * Mr. Lehrer's muse is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste.
 * The New York Times (9 February 1959)

 * Lehrer is that rarest of beasts a performer who was never seduced by the roar of the crowd and who rejected show business well before it had a chance to do the same to him. His concert tours were brief and motivated either by a desire to visit a new place (such as Australia, in 1960) or to test and polish material for a recording.
 * Sydney Morning Herald (1 March 2003)

 * I’ve always kind of considered him the J. D. Salinger of demented music.
 * "Weird Al" Yankovic

title: Tom Lehrer


text:
Miyamoto Musashi

Miyamoto Musashi 宮本 武蔵 (c. 1584 – 13 June 1645) was a famous Japanese swordsman, believed to have been one of the most skilled swordsmen in history. He founded the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu, or Nito Ryu style of swordsmanship and wrote Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings) a classic work on strategy, tactics, and philosophy.

Go Rin No Sho (1645)

 * Translated as The Book of Five Rings or A Book of Five Rings

The following synopsis from the first volume "The Ground Book" (or "The Earth Book") summarizes the subjects of all 5 volumes of the work:

 * 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 Ground book. It is difficult to realise the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. As if it were a straight road mapped out on the ground, the first book is called the Ground book.

 * Second is the Water book. With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea. … If you master the principles of sword-fencing, when you freely beat one man, you beat any man in the world. The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. … The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.

 * Third is the Fire book. This book is about fighting. The spirit of fire is fierce, whether the fire be small or big; and so it is with battles. The Way of battles is the same for man to man fights and for ten thousand a side battles. You must appreciate that spirit can become big or small. What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. In short, it is difficult for large numbers of men to change position, so their movements can be easily predicted. An individual can easily change his mind, so his movements are difficult to predict. You must appreciate this. The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions.

 * Fourthly the Wind book. This book is not concerned with my Ichi school but with other schools of strategy. By Wind I mean old traditions, present-day traditions, and family traditions of strategy. Thus I clearly explain the strategies of the world. This is tradition. It is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. To all Ways there are side-tracks. If you study a Way daily, and your spirit diverges, you may think you are obeying a good way, but objectively it is not the true Way. If you are following the true Way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence. You must realise this. Other strategies have come to be thought of as mere sword-fencing, and it is not unreasonable that this should be so. The benefit of my strategy, although it includes sword-fencing, lies in a separate principle. I have explained what is commonly meant by strategy in other schools in the Wind book.

 * Fifthly, the book of the Void. By Void I mean that which has no beginning and no end. Attaining this principle means not attaining the principle. The Way of strategy is the Way of nature. When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. All this is the Way of the Void. I intend to show how to follow the true Way according to nature in the book of the Void.

Introduction

 * I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time.

 * I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, age sixty years. From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of strategy. My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests.

 * When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the Way of strategy when I was fifty. Since then I have lived without following any particular Way. Thus with the virtue of strategy I practise many arts and abilities — all things with no teacher. To write this book I did not use the law of Buddha or the teachings of Confucius, neither old war chronicles nor books on martial tactics. I take up my brush to explain the true spirit of this Ichi school as it is mirrored in the Way of heaven and Kwannon. The time is the night of the tenth day of the tenth month, at the hour of the tiger.

The Ground Book

 * Also translated as "The Earth Book" Online text

 * Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft, and troopers should know this Way. There is no warrior in the world today who really understands the Way of strategy. There are various Ways. There is the Way of salvation by the law of Buddha, the Way of Confucius governing the Way of learning, the Way of healing as a doctor, as a poet teaching the Way of Waka, tea, archery, and many arts and skills. Each man practices as he feels inclined.

 * It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
 * Variant translation: First, as is often said, a samurai must have both literary and martial skills: to be versed in the two is his duty. Even if he has no natural ability, a samurai must train assiduously in both skills to a degree appropriate to his status. On the whole, if you are to assess the samurai's mind, you may think it is simply attentiveness to the manner of dying.

 * Students of the Ichi school Way of strategy should train from the start with the sword and long sword in either hand. This is the truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.

 * There is no fast way of wielding the long sword. The long sword should be wielded broadly, and the companion sword closely. This is the first thing to realise. According to this Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon, and yet you can also win with a short weapon. In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size.

 * These things cannot be explained in detail. From one thing, know ten thousand things. When you attain the Way of strategy there will not be one thing you cannot see. You must study hard.

 * To master the virtue of the long sword is to govern the world and oneself, thus the long sword is the basis of strategy. The principle is "strategy by means of the long sword". If he attains the virtue of the long sword, one man can beat ten men. Just as one man can beat ten, so a hundred men can beat a thousand, and a thousand men can beat ten thousand. In my strategy, one man is the same as ten thousand, so this strategy is the complete warrior's craft. The Way of the warrior does not include other Ways, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, certain traditions, artistic accomplishments and dancing. But even though these are not part of the Way, if you know the Way broadly you will see it in everything. Men must polish their particular Way.

 * There is a time and a place for use of weapons. The best use of the companion sword is in a confined space, or when you are engaged closely with an opponent. The long sword can be used effectively in all situations. The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you can take the initiative; the halberd is defensive. In the hands of one of two men of equal ability, the spear gives a little extra strength. Spear and halberd both have their uses, but neither is very beneficial in confined spaces.

 * If you learn "indoor" techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters.

 * Just as a horse must have endurance and no defects, so it is with weapons. Horses should walk strongly, and swords and companion swords should cut strongly. Spears and halberds must stand up to heavy use: bows and guns must be sturdy. Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative.

 * There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.

 * There is timing in the whole life of the warrior, in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. In strategy there are various timing considerations. From the outset you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable timing, and from among the large and small things and the fast and slow timings find the relevant timing, first seeing the distance timing and the background timing. This is the main thing in strategy. It is especially important to know the background timing, otherwise your strategy will become uncertain.

 * You win in battles with the timing in the Void born of the timing of cunning by knowing the enemies' timing, and this using a timing which the enemy does not expect. All the five books are chiefly concerned with timing. You must train sufficiently to appreciate all this.

 * This is the Way for men who want to learn my strategy: Do not think dishonestly. The Way is in training. Become acquainted with every art. Know the Ways of all professions. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use.

 * If you do not look at things on a large scale it will be difficult for you to master strategy. If you learn and attain this strategy you will never lose even to twenty or thirty enemies. More than anything to start with you must set your heart on strategy and earnestly stick to the Way. You will come to be able to actually beat men in fights, and to be able to win with your eye. Also by training you will be able to freely control your own body, conquer men with your body, and with sufficient training you will be able to beat ten men with your spirit.

The Water Book

 * Online text

 * Language does not extend to explaining the Way in detail, but it can be grasped intuitively. Study this book; read a word then ponder on it. If you interpret the meaning loosely you will mistake the Way.

 * The principles of strategy are written down here in terms of single combat, but you must think broadly so that you attain an understanding for ten-thousand-a-side battles. Strategy is different from other things in that if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into bad ways.

 * If you merely read this book you will not reach the Way of strategy. Absorb the things written in this book. Do not just read, memorise or imitate, but so that you realise the principle from within your own heart study hard to absorb these things into your body.

 * In strategy your spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal. Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken.

 * Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.

 * With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view. You must cultivate your wisdom and spirit. Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the Ways of different arts one by one. When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy. The wisdom of strategy is different from other things. On the battlefield, even when you are hard-pressed, you should ceaselessly research the principles of strategy so that you can develop a steady spirit.

 * In all forms of strategy, it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in everyday life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance. You must research this well.

 * The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze "Perception and Sight". 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. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale combat.

 * Grip the long sword with a rather floating feeling in your thumb and forefinger, with the middle finger neither tight nor slack, and with the last two fingers tight. It is bad to have play in your hands. When you take up a sword, you must feel intent on cutting the enemy. As you cut an enemy you must not change your grip, and your hands must not "cower". When you dash the enemy's sword aside, or ward it off, or force it down, you must slightly change the feeling in your thumb and forefinger. Above all, you must be intent on cutting the enemy in the way you grip the sword.

 * Generally, I dislike fixedness in both long swords and hands. Fixedness means a dead hand. Pliability is a living hand. You must bear this in mind.

 * The five attitudes are: Upper, Middle, Lower, Right Side, and Left Side. These are the five. Although attitude has these five dimensions, the one purpose of all of them is to cut the enemy. There are none but these five attitudes. Whatever attitude you are in, do not be conscious of making the attitude; think only of cutting.

 * Knowing the Way of the long sword means we can wield with two fingers the sword that we usually carry. If we know the path of the sword well, we can wield it easily. If you try to wield the long sword quickly you will mistake the Way. To wield the long sword well you must wield it calmly. If you try to wield it quickly, like a folding fan or a short sword, you will err by using "short sword chopping". You cannot cut a man with a long sword using this method.

 * "Attitude No-Attitude" means that there is no need for what are known as long sword attitudes. Even so, attitudes exist as the five ways of holding the long sword. However you hold the sword it must be in such a way that it is easy to cut the enemy well, in accordance with the situation, the place, and your relation to the enemy.

 * 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 cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.

 * Fixed formation is bad. Study this well.

 * The spirit of the smacking parry is not parrying, or smacking strongly, but smacking the enemy's long sword in accordance with his attacking cut, primarily intent on quickly cutting him. If you understand the timing of smacking, however hard your long swords clash together, your swordpoint will not be knocked back even a little. You must research sufficiently to realise this.

 * "There are many enemies" applies when you are fighting one against many. Draw both sword and companion sword and assume a wide-stretched left and right attitude. The spirit is to chase the enemies around from side to side, even though they come from all four directions. Observe their attacking order, and go to meet first those who attack first. Sweep your eyes around broadly, carefully examining the attacking order, and cut left and right alternately with your swords. Waiting is bad. Always quickly re-assume your attitudes to both sides, cut the enemies down as they advance, crushing them in the direction from which they attack. Whatever you do, you must drive the enemy together, as if tying a line of fishes, and when they are seen to be piled up, cut them down strongly without giving them room to move.

 * You can know how to win through strategy with the long sword, but it cannot be clearly explained in writing. You must practise diligently in order to understand how to win.

 * You can win with certainty with the spirit of "one cut". It is difficult to attain this if you do not learn strategy well. If you train well in this Way, strategy will come from your heart and you will be able to win at will. You must train diligently.

 * Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.

 * 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. … Even if you kill an enemy, if it is not based on what you have learned it is not the true Way.

The Fire Book

 * Online text

 * In this the Fire Book of the NiTo Ichi school of strategy I describe fighting as fire.

 * In my strategy, the training for killing enemies is by way of many contests, fighting for survival, discovering the meaning of life and death, learning the Way of the sword, judging the strength of attacks and understanding the Way of the "edge and ridge" of the sword.

 * You cannot profit from small techniques particularly when full armor is worn. My Way of strategy is the sure method to win when fighting for your life one man against five or ten.

 * Examine your environment.

 * '''When the fight comes, always endeavour to chase the enemy around to your left side. Chase him towards awkward places, and try to keep him with his back to awkward places. When the enemy gets into an inconvenient position, do not let him look around, but conscientiously chase him around and pin him down. In houses, chase the enemy into the thresholds, lintels, doors, verandas, pillars, and so on, again not letting him see his situation. Always chase the enemy into bad footholds, obstacles at the side, and so on, using the virtues of the place to establish predominant positions from which to fight. You must research and train diligently in this.

 * The Three Methods to Forestall the Enemy The first is to forestall him by attacking. This is called Ken No Sen (to set him up). Another method is to forestall him as he attacks. This is called Tai No Sen (to wait for the initiative). The other method is when you and the enemy attack together. This is called Tai Tai No Sen (to accompany him and forestall him). There are no methods of taking the lead other than these three. Because you can win quickly by taking the lead, it is one of the most important things in strategy. There are several things involved in taking the lead. You must make the best of the situation, see through the enemy's spirit so that you grasp his strategy and defeat him. It is impossible to write about this in detail.

 * "To know the times" means to know the enemy's disposition in battle. Is is flourishing or waning? By observing the spirit of the enemy's men and getting the best position, you can work out the enemy's disposition and move your men accordingly.

 * "To tread down the sword" is a principle often used in strategy. First, in large-scale strategy, when the enemy first discharges bows and guns and then attacks, it is difficult for us to attack if we are busy loading powder into our guns or notching our arrows. The spirit is to attack quickly while the enemy is still shooting with bows or guns. The spirit is to win by "treading down" as we receive the enemy's attack. In single combat, we cannot get a decisive victory by cutting, with a "tee-dum tee-dum" feeling, in the wake of the enemy's attacking long sword. We must defeat him at the start of his attack, in the spirit of treading him down with the feet, so that he cannot rise again to the attack.

 * "Treading" does not simply mean treading with the feet. Tread with the body, tread with the spirit, and, of course, tread and cut with the long sword. You must achieve the spirit of not allowing the enemy to attack a second time. This is the spirit of forestalling in every sense. Once at the enemy, you should not aspire just to strike him, but to cling after the attack. You must study this deeply.

 * Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged. In large-scale strategy, when the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without letting the chance go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies' collapse, they may recover.

 * "To release four hands" is used when you and the enemy are contending with the same spirit, and the issue cannot be decided. Abandon this spirit and win through an alternative resource. In large-scale strategy, when there is a "four hands" spirit, do not give up - it is man's existence. Immediately throw away this spirit and win with a technique the enemy does not expect.

 * "To move the shade" is used when you cannot see the enemy's spirit. In large-scale strategy, when you cannot see the enemy's position, indicate that you are about to attack strongly, to discover his resources. It is easy then to defeat hin with a different method once you see his resources.

 * Many things are said to be passed on. Sleepiness can be passed on, and yawning can be passed on. Time can be passed on also. In large-scale strategy, when the enemy is agitated and shows an inclination to rush, do not mind in the least. Make a show of complete calmness, and the enemy will be taken by this and will become relaxed. When you see that this spirit has been passed on, you can bring about the enemy's defeat by attacking strongly with a Void spirit.

 * Many things can cause a loss of balance. One cause is danger, another is hardship, and another is surprise. You must research this. In large-scale strategy it is important to cause loss of balance. Attack without warning where the enemy is not expecting it, and while his spirit is undecided follow up your advantage and, having the lead, defeat him.

 * In large-scale strategy you can frighten the enemy not by what you present to their eyes, but by shouting, making a small force seem large, or by threatening them from the flank without warning. These things all frighten. You can win by making best use of the enemy's frightened rhythm.

 * When you have come to grips and are striving together with the enemy, and you realise that you cannot advance, you "soak in" and become one with the enemy. You can win by applying a suitable technique while you are mutually entangled. In battles involving large numbers as well as in fights with small numbers, you can often win decisively with the advantage of knowing how to "soak" into the enemy, whereas, were you to draw apart, you would lose the chance to win. Research this well.

 * In large-scale strategy, it is beneficial to strike at the corners of the enemy's force, If the corners are overthrown, the spirit of the whole body will be overthrown.

 * In single combat, we can confuse the enemy by attacking with varied techniques when the chance arises. Feint a thrust or cut, or make the enemy think you are going close to him, and when he is confused you can easily win. This is the essence of fighting, and you must research it deeply.

 * The three shouts are divided thus: before, during and after. Shout according to the situation. The voice is a thing of life. We shout against fires and so on, against the wind and the waves. The voice shows energy.

 * In battles, when the armies are in confrontation, attack the enemy's strong points and, when you see that they are beaten back, quickly separate and attack yet another strong point on the periphery of his force. The spirit of this is like a winding mountain path. This is an important fighting method for one man against many. Strike down the enemies in one quarter, or drive them back, then grasp the timing and attack further strong points to right and left, as if on a winding mountain path, weighing up the enemies' disposition. When you know the enemies' level, attack strongly with no trace of retreating spirit.

 * What is meant by 'mingling' is the spirit of advancing and becoming engaged with the enemy, and not withdrawing even one step. You must understand this.

 * In large-scale strategy, when we see that the enemy has few men, or if he has many men but his spirit is weak and disordered, we knock the hat over his eyes, crushing him utterly. If we crush lightly, he may recover.

 * The "mountain-sea" spirit means that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy. There may be no help but to do something twice, but do not try it a third time. If you once make an attack and fail, there is little chance of success if you use the same approach again.

 * When we are fighting with the enemy, even when it can be seen that we can win on the surface with the benefit of the Way, if his spirit is not extinguished, he may be beaten superficially yet undefeated in spirit deep inside. With this principle of "penetrating the depths" we can destroy the enemy's spirit in its depths, demoralizing him by quickly changing our spirit. This often occurs. Penetrating the depths means penetrating with the long sword, penetrating with the body, and penetrating with the spirit. This cannot be understood in a generalization. Once we have crushed the enemy in the depths, there is no need to remain spirited. But otherwise we must remain spirited. If the enemy remains spirited it is difficult to crush him.

 * "To renew" applies when we are fighting with the enemy, and an entangled spirit arises where there is no possible resolution. We must abandon our efforts, think of the situation in a fresh spirit then win in the new rhythm. To renew, when we are deadlocked with the enemy, means that without changing our circumstance we change our spirit and win through a different technique.

 * There are various kinds of spirit involved in letting go the hilt. There is the spirit of winning without a sword. There is also the spirit of holding the long sword but not winning. The various methods cannot be expressed in writing. You must train well.

 * When you have mastered the Way of strategy you can suddenly make your body like a rock, and ten thousand things cannot touch you. This is the body of a rock. You will not be moved.

 * This book is a spiritual guide for the man who wishes to learn the Way. My heart has been inclined to the Way of strategy from my youth onwards. I have devoted myself to training my hand, tempering my body, and attaining the many spiritual attitudes of sword fencing. If we watch men of other schools discussing theory, and concentrating on techniques with the hands, even though they seem skilful to watch, they have not the slightest true spirit. Of course, men who study in this way think they are training the body and spirit, but it is an obstacle to the true Way, and its bad influence remains for ever.

 * The true Way of sword fencing is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this.

The Wind Book

 * Online text

 * In strategy you must know the Ways of other schools, so I have written about various other traditions of strategy in this the Wind Book.

 * Some of the world's strategists are concerned only with sword fencing, and limit their training to flourishing the long sword and carriage of the body. But is dexterity alone sufficient to win? This is not the essence of the Way. I have recorded the unsatisfactory points of other schools one by one in this book.

 * Some other schools have a liking for extra-long swords. From the point of view of my strategy these must be seen as weak schools. This is because they do not appreciate the principle of cutting the enemy by any means. Their preference is for the extra-long sword and, relying on the virtue of its length, they think to defeat the enemy from a distance. In this world it is said, "One inch gives the hand advantage", but these are the idle words of one who does not know strategy. It shows the inferior strategy of a weak spirit that men should be dependant on the length of their sword, fighting from a distance without the benefit of strategy.

 * It is difficult for these people to cut the enemy when at close quarters because of the length of the long sword. The blade path is large so the long sword is an encumbrance, and they are at a disadvantage compared to the man armed with a short companion sword. From olden times it has been said: "Great and small go together." So do not unconditionally dislike extra-long swords. What I dislike is the inclination towards the long sword. If we consider large-scale strategy, we can think of large forces in terms of long swords, and small forces as short swords. Cannot few men give battle against many? There are many instances of few men overcoming many.

 * Your strategy is of no account if when called on to fight in a confined space your heart is inclined to the long sword, or if you are in a house armed only with your companion sword. Besides, some men have not the strength of others. In my doctrine, I dislike preconceived, narrow spirit. You must study this well.

 * Whenever you cross swords with an enemy you must not think of cutting him either strongly or weakly; just think of cutting and killing him. Be intent solely on killing the enemy. Do not try to cut strongly and, of course, do not think of cutting weakly. You should only be concerned with killing the enemy.

 * If you rely on strength, when you hit the enemy's sword you will inevitably hit too hard. If you do this, your own sword will be carried along as a result. Thus the saying, "The strongest hand wins", has no meaning. In large-scale strategy, if you have a strong army and are relying on strength to win, but the enemy also has a strong army, the battle will be fierce. This is the same for both sides. Without the correct principle the fight cannot be won. The spirit of my school is to win through the wisdom of strategy, paying no attention to trifles. Study this well.

 * Some men use a shorter long sword with the intention of jumping in and stabbing the enemy at the unguarded moment when he flourishes his sword. This inclination is bad. To aim for the enemy's unguarded moment is completely defensive, and undesirable at close quarters with the enemy. Furthermore, you cannot use the method of jumping inside his defense with a short sword if there are many enemies. Some men think that if they go against many enemies with a shorter long sword they can unrestrictedly frisk around cutting in sweeps, but they have to parry cuts continuously, and eventually become entangled with the enemy. This is inconsistent with the true Way of strategy. The sure Way to win thus is to chase the enemy around in a confusing manner, causing him to jump aside, with your body held strongly and straight.

 * Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.

 * Really skilful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy. From this example, the principle can be seen.

 * When your opponent is hurrying recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced by the opponent. Train diligently to attain this spirit.

The Book No-Thing-ness

 * Online text

 * The Ni To Ichi Way of strategy is recorded in this the Book of the Void.

 * What is called the spirit of the void is where there is nothing. It is not included in man's knowledge. Of course the void is nothingness. By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void.

 * People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment.

 * To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit heart and mind, and sharpen the twofold gaze perception and sight. When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.

 * Until you realise the true Way, whether in Buddhism or in common sense, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from the viewpoint of laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation and the true spirit as the Way. Enact strategy broadly, correctly and openly. Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void. In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness.

Dokkodo

 * Online text

The "Dokkōdō", is a short work written by Miyamoto Musashi a week before he died in 1645. It consists of 21 precepts are as follows: The 21 precepts of Dokkodo:

 * Accept everything just the way it is.
 * Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
 * Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
 * Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
 * Be detached from desire your whole life long.
 * Do not regret what you have done.
 * Never be jealous.
 * Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
 * Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others.
 * Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
 * In all things have no preferences.
 * Be indifferent to where you live.
 * Do not pursue the taste of good food.
 * Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
 * Do not act following customary beliefs
 * Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
 * Do not fear death.
 * Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
 * Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
 * You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
 * Never stray from the Way.

title: Miyamoto Musashi