Quotes For Martial Artists To Live By

[Tant01]

Finishing strokes on them I shall hail,
with all the weight of my cudgel.
Out of them guts I shall tear,
and scatter them here,
there,
everywhere.

~Ferdowsi

[chalambok]

"Impersonality, coercion, deliberate cruelty, all deployed on a rising scale, make the fitness of modern man to sustain the stress of battle increasingly doubtful." - John Keegan in The Face of Battle

"Only the values of the past may make victory possible." - Robert Kaplan in Soldiers of God

Two pre-eminent historians making perfectly cogent arguments for the value of martial arts in today's world.

[chalambok]

A Good Instructor

"A good instructor will give you joy, and discovery. And then ecstasy, beyond fear or pain, or joy--pure sensation. Total deinhibition, flowing through a body strong enough and flexible enough and balanced enough to take that kind of emotional current without burning up. That is the true job of a real instructor--to prepare his students for death, and therefore, for life. Everything else is a shadow of the real purpose." - Steven Barnes

[seppuku]

id rather die on my feet than go on living on my knees

if you're not the best, you're nothing

most of all... "keep your guard up". taught by roundhouse kicks to the head...

[Tant01]

What's so damn hard to understand about a QUOTE?

id rather die on my feet than go on living on my knees...

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees".
Emiliano Zapata



Learn to quote.... Misquotes don't count!


Call it a pet peve.

[BoarSpear]

Mencken's Creed

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.


~H.L Mencken~

[gregimotis]

Every Normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats
~H.L Mencken~




(Thanks for reminding me of this guy.)

[blitz]

The key to immortality is once living a life worth remembering. -Bruce Lee

[Kenpodog]

It's not who's right, but who's left -- Ed Parker

[HtTKar]

Drills teach principles. They teach ideas. They are the map, not the territory. (Marc "Animal" MacYoung)

[Tant01]

Drills teach principles. They teach ideas. They are the map, not the territory. (Unknown)

Marc "Animal" MacYoung.

[HtTKar]

yep, thats him.
I'll edit my prior post

[Tom Yum]

Your knight in shining armor? jk

maybe. who knows?

[shaolin-warrior]

there is no honor in killing
there is no graceful way to destroy
the only good thing that comes from war, is its end
Abraham Lincoln

[Kenpodog]

"When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Appear" -- unknown