MARTIAL ARTS QUOTES
Martial Arts Quotes That Have Inspired My Journey
For more than 32 years, Tai Chi has been an important part of my life. Along the way, I've collected quotes that have challenged me, encouraged me, and shaped the way I think about discipline, perseverance, balance, and living with purpose.
Some come from martial artists and Tai Chi masters. Others come from athletes, authors, philosophers, and people from completely different walks of life. Although they don't all speak about martial arts directly, each one has taught me something that has stayed with me.
I originally began collecting these quotes for myself, but over time I realized I wanted to preserve them for my sons, my family, and anyone who might one day wonder what inspired my journey. In many ways, this page is more than a collection of quotes. It's a collection of the ideas that helped shape my life.
Today, I'm sharing them with you in the hope that one of these quotes encourages you on your own journey, just as they have encouraged me on mine. Every person who visits Tai Chi Daily has their own unique journey. My hope is that one of these quotes inspires you to keep moving forward on yours.
If you enjoy this collection, I invite you to explore the rest of Tai Chi Daily. You'll find articles, cartoons, inspiration, and a supportive community of people who believe that consistent practice can change lives. Whether you're just beginning or have practiced for decades, you're welcome here.
"There is no mystique to Tai Chi Chuan. What is difficult is the perseverance. It took me ten years to discover my chi, but thirty years to learn how to use it. Once you see the benefit, you won't want to stop."
― Ma Yueh Liang
"We all have inner demons to fight. We call these demons 'fear', and 'hatred', and 'anger'. If you don't conquer them, then a life of a hundred years... is a tragedy. If you do, a life of a single day can be a triumph."
― Yip Man
"I know she is coming close to the time where she will stop being a dog, and start instead to be part of everything. She'll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go..."
― Fiona Apple
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
― Unknown
"I saw peace within and practice Tai Chi daily to make it mine."
― Joe Cavaliere, Tai Chi Daily
"Ask yourself what problem you have right now. Not next year, tomorrow or five minutes from now. You can always cope with the now, but you can never cope with the future. Nor do you have to. The answer, the strength and the right action will be there when you need it. Not before or after."
― Eckhart Tolle
"Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side."
― Dr. Bob Moorehead
"Strength is not born from strength. Strength can be born only from weakness. So be glad of your weaknesses now, they are the beginnings of your strength."
― Dr. Claire Weekes
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"
― Rocky Balboa
"You're gonna have to go through hell, worse than any nightmare you've ever dreamed. But when it's over, I know you'll be the one standing. You know what you have to do. Do it. Do it."
― Tony Burton, Rocky IV
"If you ever get hurt and you feel that your going down. This little angel is going to whisper in your ear he's goin to say "Get up you son of a bitch, cause Mickey loves you."
― Mickey, Rocky IV
I'll never give up
Never give in
Never let a ray of doubt slip in
And if I fall
I'll never fade
I'll just get up and try again
Never lose hope Never lose faith
There's much too much at stake
Upon myself I must depend
I'm not looking for a place ashore
I'm gonna win.
― Brian Mcknight "Win"
Morihei Ueshiba
"Even the most powerful human being has a limited sphere of strength. Draw him outside of that sphere and into your own, and his strength will dissipate."
"Do not look upon this world with fear and loathing. Bravely face whatever the gods offer."
"There is only one place that you have not looked and it is there, only there that "YOU" shall find the master."
― The Last Dragon
"It has long been my dream that one day Americans of all ages, creeds and colors will be practicing Tai Chi Chuan in the beautiful parks of this country as they do in China. Few places in the world offer lovely open spaces which can and should be used productively. The result would be tremendous improvement in mental and physical well-being."
― Jou, Tsung Hwa
Wayne Dyer
"There's a place deep within us that wants to feel fulfilled. That wants to know that my life has made a difference. That I have left this place, this planet I have lived on, better than when I arrived. That someone's life has been profoundly touched because of my existence. We all want that."
"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours."
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
"It's a lifestyle, it's something you do the rest of your life," LaLanne said. "How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you keep eating? You just do it."
― Jack LaLanne
"It is a self-defense exercise that can make your body strong. In the use of this exercise, there are a hundred benefits without one harm. It is a model for the whole country to follow."
― Ts'ai Chueh-ming
"Pour some water into a tub and stir it up. Now try as hard as you can to calm the water with your hands; you will succeed in agitating it further. Let it stand undisturbed a while, and it will calm down by itself. The human brain works much the same way."
― Koichi Tohei
Master T.T. Liang
"At first, I take up Tai Chi as a hobby, gradually I become addicted to it, finally, I can no longer get rid of it. I must keep practicing for my whole life."
"As long as one has three square feet of space, one can take a trip to paradise and stay there to enjoy life for thirty minutes without spending a single cent."
"The teacher however, can only lead the student to the correct gate, he cannot compel him to go further, Somewhere inside the gates masses gold and diamonds lie hidden. It is up to the student to go beyond the door and into the inner rooms to search for the treasure. So in order to acquire the art one must have a determined and enduring mind, ready to persevere and study hard. If one relies entirely on the teacher one will never find the treasure."
Bruce Lee
"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless — like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
"When I have listened to my mistakes, I have grown."
"To maintain balance while constantly shifting body weight is an art few ever acquire."
"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
"What is true stillness? Stillness in movement"
"When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity… I do not hit… it hits all by itself."
"I fear not the man wo has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind."
"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!"
"The idea is running water never grows stale, so you gotta just keep on flowing."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
"The mind is incredible. Once you've gained mastery over it, channeling its powers positively for your purposes, you can do anything. I mean anything. The secret is to make your mind work for you." — not against you. This means constantly being positive. Constantly setting up challenges you can meet—either today, next week, or next month. "I can't..." should be permanently stricken from your vocabulary, especially the vocabulary of your thoughts. You must see yourself always growing and improving."
"Good things don't happen by coincidence. Every dream carries with it certain risks, especially the risk of failure. But I am not stopped by risks. Suppose a great person takes the risk and fails. Then the person must try again. You cannot fail forever. If you try ten times, you have a better chance of making it on the eleventh try than if you didn't try at all."
Walt Disney
"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
"Two Zen monks were walking along a river when they came upon a beautiful young woman. The bridge was out, she tearfully explained, and she needed to cross the river right away. "Don't worry," said one of the monks," just climb on my back and I'll carry you across." The girl climbed on the monk's back and he took her across. The monks then continued on their journey, but the second monk was very upset. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore and said, "How could you, a virtuous monk, allow an attractive young lady to ride upon your back?" The first monk said, "Are you still carrying that lady? I put her down when we crossed the river."
― Zen Buddhist story
Mahatma Gandhi
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
Michelangelo
"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free"
"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear... And when it is gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
― Frank Herbert
"He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master."
― Ben Jonson
"Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength."
― Frances de Sales
"He Who Knows Others Is Wise. He Who Knows Himself Is Enlightened."
― Tao Te Ching
"When the student is ready, the Master appears."
― Buddhist Proverb
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are."
― Anais Nin
"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."
― Jackie Robinson
"Here's to giving every day the opportunity to be the most beautiful of your life."
― Val Kilmer
17-year-old Lepa Radić was a Serbian girl who fought during WWII but never got to see the Nazis lose the war. In February 1943, Lepa was captured. The Nazis tied a rope around her neck but offered her a way out. All she had to do is reveal her comrades' and leaders' identities.
Lepa responded: "You will know them when they come to avenge me."
"I can walk you to the door and even give you a key. However, it is you who must enter the door alone."
― Sifu Bob Stevenson
"If you don't take care of your body, where are you going to live?"
― Robby Robinson
"If Jiu Jitsu does not make you a better father, son, mother, daughter, wife or husband, you are missing the point. If Jiu Jitsu does not leave you viewing strangers in a kinder light, you are missing the point. If you are not better equipped to deal with the vicissitudes of life due to your training, then you are not really training.”
― Chris Matakas
"We can slowly learn to focus attention on each present moment. These moments are after all, our real experiences of life and should be savored to the full instead of being diluted by thoughts of past and future."
― Herman Kauz
"My grandfather would take me for walks through forests and mountains, and he told me how I had to move and walk in nature in order not to frighten away the wild animals. Twenty years after my grandfather died I found myself in China and there I met an old master who taught me Tai Chi Chuan and the first thing he started talking about was how important it was to put your foot gently down with the sole of the foot in contact with the ground in order not to damage the earth. This was like hearing my grandfather all over again. They believe in the east that the first thing Buddha did was to walk seven steps and in each of his footprints a Lotus flower grew. My old teacher said "If you could walk on this earth in such a way that your foot can make flowers grow. Then you know that you are walking in the right way."
― Gerda Geddes
"There is no need to prove anything to anyone with your words. Let that which you are—that which you are living—be your clear example to uplift others."
― Abraham, The Law of Attraction
"Trust me... I have everything under control."
― Jesus
Nelson Mandela
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail."
"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison."
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
― Lance Armstrong
Muhammad Ali
"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."
"The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road; long before I dance under those lights."
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life."
"What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true of life."
"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision."
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
― Dr. Suess
Lao Tzu
"The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With One Step."
"Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner"
"If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."
"To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill."
― Sun Tsu
"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action."
― Gogen Yamaguchi
Gichin Funakoshi
"You may train for a long, long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning to dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the essence of karate-do."
"Put Karate into everyday living, that is how you will see true beauty."
"He taught him the secret to Karate lies in the mind and heart. Not in the hands."
― Karate Kid 1
Daniel-san: You could have killed him couldn't you have?
Mr. Miyagi: Hai.
Daniel-san: Well why didn't you then?
Mr. Miyagi: For a person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death.
― Karate Kid 2
Jackie Chan
"Kung fu lives in everything we do. It lives in how we put on a jacket and how we take off a jacket. It lives in how we treat people. Everything is kung fu."
"We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people."
"Whole life have a balance everything be better."
― Mr. Myagi, The Karate Kid 1
"There are sometimes when a Shaolin must fight, and some people will not learn until they are taught a lesson."
― American Shaolin (1992)
"It's terribly wrong to stuff that sacred citadel with junk you know darn well is bad for you, I came to realize I was barreling pell-mell down the road leading to disease, disability and premature destruction of the most precious thing I could ever be given—my own life."
― Ralph Maxwell 92-year-old world-record-holding decathlete
Rumi
"Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still."
"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."
"All martial arts are really just different paths to the same place, which is total human development."
― Beth Austin
Kung Fu Series
Young Caine: Of all things, to live in darkness must be the worst. Fear is the only darkness. Never assume that because a man has no eyes, he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water. I hear the birds.
Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Young Caine: No.
Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper which at your feet?
Young Caine: Old Man, how is it that you hear these things?
Master Po: Young Man, how is it that you do not?
Master Po and Kwai Chang after a long separation have just reunited in the village. Just then the Emperors procession is passing by. Master Po accidentally trips one of the emperors guards with his walking stick:
Emperors Guard: You dare touch an escort of the imperial house.
Master Po: Humble apologies, I meant no harm.
Emperors Guard: Who are you?
Master Po: I am Po, lowly priest from Hunan province.
Emperors Guard: And you?
Caine: I am Kwai Chang, also priest of Hunan. The Emperor gives a nod to his guard and the guard slaps Master Po across the face. The guard again attempts to physically confront Master Po by the front of his robe. Master Po subdues the guard by twisting the guard's thumb and hand using a joint lock.
Master Po: Even one of the royal house should not punish an old blind man twice for the same offense. Another guard unsuccessfully attempts to strike Master Po. The Emperor then fires a gun twice and shoots Master Po in the back. Kwai Chang in shock of what has happened forcefully takes a spear away from one of the Emperor's guards and throws it at the Emperor.
Master Po: Did you, did you kill him?
Caine: Yes my master. After all your teaching I have disgraced myself.
Master Po: No, sometimes one must cut of a finger to save a hand.
Master Po: You sit by yourself grasshopper. What do you think of?
Caine: My mother, my father. Both gone. I am alone.
Master Po: You hear the flock of birds flying overhead? You hear the fish? The beetle? In this crowded place you feel alone. Which of us is the most blind?
"Avoid, rather than check. Check, rather than hurt. Hurt, rather than maim. Maim, rather than kill. For all life is precious, nor can any be replaced."
― Master Kan
"Young Caine. When I was a boy, I fell into a hole in the ground, and I was broken, and I could not climb out. I might have died there. But a stranger came along and saved me. He said it was his obligation. That for help he once received, he must in return help 10 others. Each of whom must help 10 others. So that good deeds would spread out like the ripples from a pebble in a pond. I was one of his 10."
― Master Po
"Do not meet a wave head-on: avoid it. You do not have to stop force: it is easier to redirect it."
― Master Kan
"If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present; but if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past."
― Master Po
Vince Lombardi
"Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. Sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."
"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."
"The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them."
― Miyamoto Musashi
"A big cat saw a little cat chasing its tail and asked, "Why are you chasing your tail so?" Said the kitten, "I have learned that the best thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it: and when I catch it. I shall have happiness." Said the cat, "My son, I, too, have paid attention to the problems of the universe. I, too, have judged that happiness is in my tail. But, I have noticed that whenever I chase it, it keeps running away from me, and when I go about my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go."
― C.L. James
"Fear is conquered by action. When we challenge our fears, we defeat them. When we grapple with our difficulties, they lose their hold upon us. When we dare to face the things which scare us, we open the door to freedom."
― Author Unknown
Mark Twain
"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years."
"It's not what you're going to take from martial arts, it's what you have to give martial arts."
― aulo Ribeiroi
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
― Anais Nin
"Understand that the essence of martial arts is not the art itself, but what's hidden deep within yourself."
― Gogen Yamaguchi
"Tai Chi... might well be called "medication in motion." There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice... has value in treating or preventing many health problems."
― Harvard Medical School's Harvard Health Publication, May 2009
"Practicing qigong is so simple and so powerful. You cannot do it wrong. You can only do it good, better, or best."
― Chunyi Lin
"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."
― Diana Spencer
"Anyone can be a couch potato, What makes YOU different from everyone else?"
― Howard Pashenz Sensei
Morrie Schwartz from Tuesdays with Morrie
"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that your going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
"Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed."
― Bob Riley
"Martial arts is not about fighting: it's about building character."
― Bo Bennett
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."
― George R.R. Martin
"Ever since my children were born, the moment I looked at them I was crazy about them. Once I held them I was hooked. I am addicted to my children sir. I love them with all my heart and the idea of someone telling me I can't be with them, I can't see them everyday. Well, it's like someone saying I can't have air."
― Robin Williams, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
There's a Hole in My Sidewalk a poem by Portia Nelson
Chapter 1
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend that I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in this same place. But, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in … it's a habit … but, my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down another street.
Bob Marley
"The biggest coward of a man is to awaken the love of a woman without the intention of loving her."
"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively"
"Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me, danger is very real, But fear is a choice."
― Will Smith, After Earth (2013)
"Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and without anxiety."
― A Course in Miracles
"But even in my darkest days I had faith it would turn around."
― Steve Harvey
"Martial arts does not teach you how to fight, it teaches you why not to."
― Lakshya Bharadwaj
"If you think you can do it, or you think you can't do it, You are right."
― Henry Ford
"There is something about the heat of the moment and when your not trying that it almost feels like the music kind of comes through you and plays you and you are just kind of a conduit for that energy. The longer that I play the more that that happens so I am very grateful for that."
― Jeff Pevar
"Protecting yourself is self-defense. Protecting others is warriorship."
― Bohdi Sanders
Me: God, can I ask You a question?
God: Sure Me: Promise You won't get mad?
God: I promise
Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?
God: What do u mean?
Me: Well, I woke up late
God: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start
God: Okay
Me: at lunch, they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait
God: Hmmn
Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call.
God: All right Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?
God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that.
Me (humbled): OH
God: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.
Me: (ashamed)
God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.
Me (embarrassed): Okay
God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.
Me (softly): I see
God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I'm Sorry God
God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me…. in All things, the Good & the bad… And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.
God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children…
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
― Hebrews 13:2
"I see martial arts as moving forms of meditation. When you're sparring or drilling techniques, you can't think of anything else.
― Joe Rogan
"You know it is love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you're not part of their happiness."
― Julia Roberts
"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."
― Jim Rohn
"It's not what you are that holds you back, it's what you think you are not."
― Denis Waitley
"There is only one person responsible for the quality of life you live and that person is you."
― Jack Canfield
"The primary purpose in this life is to help others. And if you are unable to help others, in the least, do not hurt them."
― The Dalai Lama
"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."
― Albert Einstein
"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer, you beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live."
― Stuart Scott
"For me, martial arts is a search for something inside. It's not just a physical discipline."
― Brandon Lee
Cheng Man Ching
"T'ai-chi is both an integrated exercise and an enjoyable sport for all: rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old, male and female. Weather does not inhibit its practice. Requirements of time and space are minimal. If one has approximately four feet on a side and can spare ten minutes a day, he/she can practice T'ai-chi without spending a cent."
"Whoever practices T'ai-chi correctly and regularly, twice a day over a period of time will gain the pliability of a child, the health of a lumberjack, and the piece of mind of a sage."
"If one approaches the study of Tai Chi Chuan without perseverance one emerges empty-handed from a mountain of treasures."
― Cheng Man Ching
"Tai Chi Chuan, the great ultimate, strengthens the weak, raises the sick, invigorates the debilitated, and encourages the timid."
"I cannot say that what I learned from my teacher, Professor Yang, was all that he had to transmit. If I also keep one secret or if I keep all of them, I would then be guilty of saving a pearl while my country went to ruin."
"If you have good health, Don't take it for granted, For that is the beginning of bad health."
"If I give people money, they will spend it all. If I give people fame, they will attract enemies. Only if I give them a healthy body, self-defense skill, and cultivated mind, will they live happily ever after."
"When you talk, you are only repeating what you know; but when you listen, you learn something new."
― Dalai Lama
"'Come to the edge', he said. They said, 'We are afraid.' 'Come to the edge,' he said. They came. He pushed them. . . and they Flew."
― Guillaume Apollinaire
"Masters of the martial arts believe that a strong body and mind go together: you can't improve one without working on the other.
― Laura Scandiffio
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."
― Joseph Campbell
"When your temper rises, lower your fists - when your fists rise, lower your temper."
― Chojun Miyagi
"The fact is that I am not great, I only teach what I have been taught. I ride on the shoulders of men of genius."
― Erle Montaigue
"Faith" he said, "is the ability to see the invisible and believe in the incredible and that is what enables believers to receive what the masses think is impossible."
― Clarence Smithison
Nobutada: Please forgive, Too many mind. Nathan Algren: Too many minds? Nobutada: Hai. Mind the sword, Mind people watching, Mind the enemy Too many mind. Nobutada: No Mind. Nathan Algreen: No Mind.
― The Last Samurai, 2003
"Life is like a mirror - if you give it a smile, you'll get one right back!"
― Unknown
"When there is a storm and you stand in front of a tree. If you look at its branches, you swear it will fall. But if you watch the trunk, you will see its stability."
― Hugh Glass, The Revenant (2015)
"I do it because I have to practice what I preach. I can't tell anyone to do anything if I'm not doing it."
― Ernestine Shepherd
"This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."
― Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi
"Everybody comes to a point in their life when they want to quit. But it's what you do at that moment that determines who you are."
― David Goggins
Luke Skywalker: I don't believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.
― Star Wars Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back
Dr. Cotter: "Son I am sorry to say you are not going to box again" Vinny Paz: I looked at him and I said "no Dr. Cotter you are wrong. I am going to box again, you see, you don't understand what kind of man I am".
― Vinny Paz
"If an egg is broken by an outside force, LIFE ends. If broken by inside force, LIFE begins. Great things always begin from inside."
― Unknown
"And in my hour of darkness She is standing right it front of me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be"
― Paul McCartney
"The weak can overcome the strong; The supple can overcome the stiff. Under heaven, everyone knows this, Yet no one puts it into practice."
― Tao Te Ching
"Hsing Yi strikes like lightning, Ba Gua twists like a tornado, Tai Chi is like a great ocean – deep and calm but reserves immeasurable power."
― Master Wei Lung Huang
"There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself."
― The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
"There is no losing in Jiu-Jitsu. You either win or you learn."
― Carlos Gracie
"A brave man, a real fighter is not measured by how many times he falls, but how many times he stands up."
― Rickson Gracie
One night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my Lord. After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. "Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me." He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testing's. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.
― Unknown
Bob Proctor
"If you can hold it in your mind, You can hold it in your hand."
― Bob Proctor
"It doesn't matter where you are. You are nowhere compared to where you can go."
"We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome."
― Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
"Movements are generated from the body like a wave from the body. Just like a tidal wave, it's very powerful and yet it's just composed of water, and yet nothing can stop that tidal wave it can wipe away cities. So the same within our bodies, our bodies are mostly made of water and if we use that fluid quality we can become very powerful."
― Bob Klein
"My grandpa taught me there is NO wrong religion. No wrong color. And no wrong race. I was taught to love all people for what their heart is. We're all spirits and souls in this universe."
― Gal Gadot
"A lineage holder in Tai Chi is always obligated, it is not their ego, it is their requirement, to state what their lineage is to pay honor to their ancestors and to state no this wasn't my invention."
― Bruce Frantzis
"There is a code of honor and if you don't respect that code man you should be out of martial arts."
― George St-Pierre
"If you improve by 1% every day, within a year you will have improved by 365%. Think About That."
― Unknown
"We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it."
― George Herbert Walker Bush
"Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable."
― Overcoming Panic Attacks by Dr. Harry Barry
"I think the best thing we can do is to let people know that each one of them is precious."
― Fred McFeely Rogers
Robert Kiyosaki
"What does god want done that I might be able to lend a hand at doing."
"Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.
"The point of studying Tai Chi Chuan is not to get better at Tai Chi, the point is to get better at being a human being."
― David-Dorian Ross
"I don't just have Willpower, I am Willpower."
― John Calvo
"Victory isn't defined by wins or losses. It is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, I did the best I could, I gave everything I had, then you're a winner."
― Kai Greene
"There is no limit to how strong a human man can be"
― Jerry Boyed (Arm Wrestler)
"There is only one person responsible for the quality of life you live and that person is you."
― Jack Canfield
"Bodybuilding is the closest we have to the fountain of youth."
― Lee Labrada
Michael Jordan
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."
"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Louis Zamperini
"All I want to tell young people is that you're not going to be anything in life unless you learn to commit to a goal. You have to reach deep within yourself to see if you are willing to make the sacrifices."
"I believe everybody in the world should try to help somebody else. Let's say half the people in the world are successful. If they help the other half, hey, you've got no problem."
"A lot of guys have better genes, but if you work hard and consistently, you can still achieve great results and outperform them.
― Frank Zane
"The body achieves what the mind believes."
― Anonymous
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
― Aristotle
"I believe all women should workout. It's a great way to develop your body, stay healthy and fit, and ward off the aging process."
― Rachel Mclish
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
― John Bingham
"Always remember this… there is only ONE recipe for strength. A secret recipe that was handed down from Sandow to John Grimek to Paul Anderson to Vasily Alekseyev to Bill Kazmaier to me. Now I'm giving YOU that magical recipe… hard work plus proper nutrition plus time equals strong."
― Steve Pulcinella
"If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done.
― Thomas Jefferson
"I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet."
― Nadia Comaneci
"No man is ever whipped, until he quits– in his own mind!"
― Napolean Hill
"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."
― Bo Jackson
"Someone once told me that you know you can never win. So, to this day those words light a fire under me like you would not believe."
― Barbie Thomas
"When you got a guy that has purpose, now your in a dog fight."
― Daniel Cormier
"I knew the mind is so powerful that if I believe what I wanted to believe I knew it was going to happen."
― Kris Dim
"Life is full of great expectations but you have to put yourself out there in order to realize all the beautiful things that can happen to you."
― Willie Murphy
"Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court, the space between your ears."
― Bobby Jones
"To Achieve What Others Won't, You Have To Do What Others Don't."
― Lazar Angelov
"Just believe in yourself. Even if you don't, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will."
― Venus Williams
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."
― Thomas Edison
"The start is what stops most people."
― Don Shula
"It may take a while to change your body, but only a split second to change your mind."
― Courtney Crozier
"I do it because I have to practice what I preach. I can't tell anyone to do anything if I'm not doing it."
― Ernestine Shepherd
"Better. Because you want to be.™"
― Inspired by my father.
"It's a lifestyle, it's something you do the rest of your life," LaLanne said. "How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you keep eating? You just do it."
― Jack LaLanne
"Balance in life is the key to everything.”
― Bryant McGill
"Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean"
― Thich Nhat Hanh
"In the struggle between the stone and water, in time, the water wins."
― Japanese Proverb
"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life."
― Rabindranath Tagore
"If you want to open your eyes, close them."
― Sanjay Raturi
"I break down my attacker's centeredness and I use his power and his center to make my centeredness stronger."
― Center: The power of Aikido
"Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away."
― Benjamin Franklin
"The beautiful thing about fear is that when you run to it, it runs away."
― Robin Sharma
"Use it or lose it. Very easy to lose it. Went through way too much to get it."
― Lou Reed
"Tai Chi Ch'uan does not require much space—just a mind to do it."
― Madeleine Perret
"Yesterday is heavy. Put it down."
― Unknown
Yasuaki Kurata: What kind of style is this?
Jet Li: If it wins, it's a good one.
― Fist of Legend (1994)
"The true work of the martial arts is progress, not perfection."
― Gene Dunn
"You told me to use any tactic that works, never to commit yourself to one style, to keep an open mind."
― Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bloodsport (1988)
"If you can't act like a champion out of the ring, how can you be one inside?"
― Sugar Ray Robinson
"Whatever you were created to become you possess it now. Which means whatever you are destined to do is not ahead of you, it's within you."
― Author Unkown
"I have this kind of philosophy that I can't do anything about what happened yesterday or what's going to happen tomorrow. But I feel like I am in full control of what's going on now."
― Willie Nelson
"Training is like sweeping the floor. Just because we've done it once, Doesn't mean the floor is clean forever. Every day the dust comes back. Every day we must clean."
― Daniele Bolelli
"To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived — that is to have succeeded."
― Bessie A. Stanley
"Sports are sports. It's all about how we carry ourselves out of the ring."
― Big George Foreman
Mr. Miyagi: Daniel-san. Daniel-san?
Daniel Larusso:
Mr. Miyagi, it's over! It's over. Forget about it.
Mr. Miyagi: No... No!
Daniel Larusso: I'm afraid. Let's get out of here. I wanna go home.
Mr. Miyagi: Cannot! Cannot! Must not! It's ok lose to opponent. Must not lose to fear!
Daniel Larusso: I'm afraid of him, all right? What do you want me to do?
Mr. Miyagi: You stay focused. Daniel-san, your best karate still inside you. Now time let out!
― Karate Kid 3, 1989
John Lash, The Tai Chi Journey
"Do not respond angrily. That would only increase his anger. If such an exchange continues, open conflict results. It is better to yield. Anger must have something strong to hit against. If there is no response, no feed-back, anger dissipates. Yielding may hurt the ego, but the ego has no place in Tai Chi."
"When we no longer see the overwhelming beauty of the forest but only a place to dump our rubbish, we will have lost the essence of life."
"A teacher and a student were walking through a jungle and saw a wild boar. In the distance, a lion roared. The wild boar looked up, saw the lion coming, and ran away. The student asked the teacher why the wild boar did not stay to fight since he had large tusks with which to kill the lion. The teacher replied that the boar could have stayed to fight and save his life by killing the lion, but by running away, the boar saved two lives."
― An ancient story
"Kindness is like a boomerang, it always finds its way back to you."
― Judge Frank Caprio
"The proudest moment in your life is if you feel you influenced somebody positively."
― Pearl Fryar
Thank you for taking the time to explore this collection. I hope one or more of these quotes encourage you on your own journey, just as they have encouraged me on mine.
If you're looking for more inspiration, practical articles, Tai Chi cartoons, or simply a community that believes consistent practice can change lives, I invite you to explore the rest of Tai Chi Daily.
Your journey, our shared path.™