Quotes by Martial Artists - Page 4

Even monkeys fall from trees.
Chris Bradford
Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strange confidence.
Bruce Lee
Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day.
Ming-Dao Deng
When you express "purity" which is the truth about yourself, you feel a love for yourself that is expressed by self-respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence!
Tae Yun Kim
I envision a world in which the vast majority of us are actively striving toward our potential as human beings by spending our lives serving others through mediums we are most passionate.
Chris Matakas
If nothing lasts then everything has meaning. If everything dies that means we actually live.
Chris Matakas
Let's live our lives with great meaning and purpose in the attempt to influence the world to whatever degree our circumstance allows.
Chris Matakas
We must strive to become more daily. We must honestly assess our weaknesses and overcome them. We must work toward the highest possible version of ourselves. This is a worthy use of our time, but it is only when we do so with the ultimate aim of service to our fellow man that we really connect with something greater than ourselves. To contribute to the world in a positive way, this is the gift of life.
Chris Matakas
The beautiful truth about service is that we are afforded countless opportunities to be its vehicle. Every interaction with another is an opportunity to serve. From simply letting someone into your lane in traffic, to holding a door, to a kind smile. This is all service. I am humbled by this simple truth. We are given the opportunity to express the most meaningful use of our lives every time we interact with another sentient being.
Chris Matakas
We strive toward the middle, and we run from ourselves.
Chris Matakas
We are free to live the life we have imagined, not the life imagined for us.
Chris Matakas
It is in community where we find our very selves.
Chris Matakas
Markings in dry clay disappearOnly when the clay is soft again.Scars upon the self disappearOnly when one becomes soft within.
Ming-Dao Deng
Who you are is always right.
Ming-Dao Deng
Do not get caught pursuing the goals of who you used to be instead of who you are.
Chris Matakas
The more specifically you define your goals the more attainable they become.
Chris Matakas
Constantly re-evaluating your purpose is the best way to ensure that you are pursuing the goals of who you are and not who you used to be.
Chris Matakas
A core group of guys, all sharing similar goals, can move mountains.
Chris Matakas
The most meaningful endeavors are the ones that come without an end.
Chris Matakas
A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.
Bruce Lee
I believe the real reason we pursue anything in life is not for the thing itself, but for who we become on the way to its accomplishment. We strive to accomplish things in the attempt to mold ourselves. The greatest benefits Jiu Jitsu will have in your life will have nothing to do with Jiu Jitsu. It is this simple understanding that allows me to persist in my study. Even on the rare days when I may not have a burning desire to practice Jiu Jitsu, I am reminded that my practicing Jiu Jitsu is more accurately my practicing to become a better human being. The lessons I learn on the mat will serve me in every area of life-- personal development, relationships, business, and the like.
Chris Matakas
It is only when we admit our ignorance that we can hope to overcome it.
Chris Matakas
I believe we must pursue mastery for who we become along the way in its achievement. When we progress in Jiu Jitsu, that newfound experience and wisdom transcends into all areas of our lives. We use Jiu Jitsu as the vehicle for growth, but that growth radiates over all of human activity. Someone who devotes time and energy in learning this skill is learning far more than how to subdue an opponent. The student learns persistence, perseverance, pattern recognition, problem solving, and most importantly, learning how to learn. In the arena of life, these virtues are far more valuable than any guard pass.
Chris Matakas
Jiu Jitsu has given me something to pursue. We all need something to work towards. For people, as well as every piece of matter in the universe, there is no such thing as maintenance. If you are not growing you are decaying. The insidious nature of modern times is that it is so easy not to pursue anything. Societal norms pressure us into jobs we do not like, and the daily comforts of televisions and computers offer much in the way of distraction. If that isn't enough, there is always the numbing effects of alcohol coupled with attention-grabbing sporting events which conveniently run year round so one is never short of stimulus.
Chris Matakas
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.Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.
Bruce Lee
Your potential for growth is directly proportionate to the degree to which you are willing to make mistakes.
Chris Matakas
Jiu Jitsu is a vehicle for self-discovery and growth. It reminds me of my ego, of my insecurities, and of my shortcomings.
Chris Matakas
I train Jiu Jitsu because I recognize that I am a piece of the whole, and as I grow so does that which contains me. The whole of man advances with the growth of a single individual. Every life I influence is benefited from the fact that I have devoted such a large portion of my life to this pursuit. I will be a better husband, father, and whatever other future roles I may hold because of my time in this sport. In making me a better man, I know that society as a whole is improved.
Chris Matakas
Jiu Jitsu gives me an ideal to strive toward. Technical mastery lies on an infinite continuum and completion of this skill is impossible. Every time I train I have something that I can improve upon, and this will hold true for each and every training session that lies between me and my grave.
Chris Matakas
I would more appropriately define mastery as the technical ability possible within the constraints of your particular existence. It must be noted that this is a subjective definition, and that this degree of mastery would be individual to each of us.
Chris Matakas
You are never as good as you think you are, and you are never as bad as you believe yourself to be.
Chris Matakas
There is no higher calling than service to your fellow man, and to do so through your own personal mastery of a craft is a gift enjoyed by few. Cultivate this gift, and give it away.
Chris Matakas
Being part of the whole, as I grow so does that which contains me.
Chris Matakas
In the present moment, no past achievement has any bearing, but we perpetually bring ourselves into the here and now; we are our constant companion. By carving the ineffable nature of my soul, rather than simply pursuing the "W," I am able to bring all of my past accomplishments with me into the present. They do hold bearing on today, not because of what I have done, but because of who I have become. This is what matters.
Chris Matakas
The medal from an old grappling tournament will not serve me today, but the courage I developed in its acquisition will. By investing in yourself, by using all endeavors as a vehicle to shape who we are, we exist in the present moment with a lifetime of growth behind us. I have loved many vehicles throughout the years, Jiu Jitsu more than any other, but the vehicle has, and always will, be a distant second to the driver.
Chris Matakas
On the other side of self-doubt comes a confidence from faith in the process. Even though our destination may be a long way off, each day we rise with a subtle smile as if we have already achieved it, because, when we are truly committed to a task, we already have.
Chris Matakas
Jiu Jitsu is a baptism by combat, and serves a purpose in the inner life of the individual that has always existed, but our modern culture fails to acknowledge.
Chris Matakas
Plateaus are a manifestation of the law of diminishing returns, and when we reach one it simply means that it is time to adjust our methods.
Chris Matakas
After I received my blue belt, I soon recognized that the belts were simply an external representation of an inner experience, and that they mattered little compared to the person I was becoming.
Chris Matakas
The road from white belt to black is long and arduous; most never reach the end. There are simply too many obstacles of daily life, and too much effort and attention required, for this to be something that the majority of practitioners achieve. This is why a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, especially from a reputable source, is the pinnacle of martial arts rank. It is valuable because of what must be traded for its achievement.
Chris Matakas
Many of us begin this art with little to no understanding of what we are getting ourselves into. Then, maybe a year or a black belt later, we realize this odyssey we have embarked upon and rest happily in knowing we have chosen a noble struggle.I think we owe most of our successes to our initial ignorance. When we begin, we cannot see the obstacles ahead, and so we march on optimistically. In hindsight, when we look back and connect the dots, we see just how green we were at the start, and it was only our ignorance that upheld us from the crushing despair of the task at hand.
Chris Matakas
Any self-defense situation has the potential to quickly become A 'life and death' situation, therefore your practice of martial arts should be undertaken, as if your very life depends on it . . .
Soke Behzad Ahmadi
The purpose of Karate is to guide you out of trouble by any means necessary, both in actual combat and in life
Soke Behzad Ahmadi
The quality of your life is directly proportional to the positive effect you have on others’ lives.
Chris Matakas
Every opportunity with another was an opportunity to serve my fellow man. Every moment alone was a chance to grow and become more of who I already was. I instantly felt how great a life could be, and that was only made possible by service toward others.
Chris Matakas
It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.
Bruce Lee
No one's life will be harder because I exist.
Chris Matakas
Memory: Recognizing the value of an alert mind and an alert memory, I will encourage mine to become alert by taking care to impress it clearly with all thoughts I wish to recall and by associating those thoughts with related subjects which I may call to mind frequently.
Bruce Lee
Red stimulates and excites your nerves, pulse rate and blood circulation, and lends energy to your entire system. When you are fatigued, lethargic or sluggish for any reason, red has an energizing influence.
Tae Yun Kim
Yellow is a very favorable vibration for mental or intellectual activity, as it promotes a clear state of mind. Yellow heightens your awareness and alleviates depression, sadness, or any kind of despondency. Yellow vibration foods are: pineapples, bananas, grapefruit, lemons and corn.
Tae Yun Kim
Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for a difficult on with the strength to endure it.
Bruce Lee
You Have the Power to Fulfill Your Dreams!
Tae Yun Kim
Green strongly influences the heart and helps alleviate tension. Positive qualities associated with green are generosity, humility, and cooperation. Foods of the green vibration are all green fruits and green vegetables.
Tae Yun Kim
Orange strengthens your emotional body, encouraging a general feeling of joy, well-being, and cheerfulness. Orange vibration foods are: oranges, tangerines, apricots, mangoes, peaches and carrots.
Tae Yun Kim
Blue is a tranquilizer, imparting coolness to your system. Blue slows down your system so it can heal and mend. Positive qualities of blue are willpower, aspiration, and reliability. Foods of the blue vibration are: grapes, blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, and any other blue fruits or vegetables.
Tae Yun Kim
In Chinese business culture, humility is a virtue.
Stefan H. Verstappen
You don't obtain excellence by doing the bare minimum.
Bohdi Sanders
Only an honorable victory is a true victory.
Bohdi Sanders
Respect is both earned and lost.
Bohdi Sanders
If your thoughts are not right, your actions won't be right.
Bohdi Sanders