I spent a lot of time not too long ago, reading up on almost everything I could find on Bruce Lee. I realize, after my research Bruce Lee was really an exceptional human being of his time. He really did believe in pursuing your own dreams and really focus on personal development daily. Bruce Lee was one of many things in his lifetime; actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do.
A few things, I didn’t know about Bruce Lee. The fact that he was born in San Francisco, CA at the Chinese Hospital. He then spent his youth in China as a martial artist and young actor. He then came back to the USA and received his education and studied his martial arts. He then moved towards LA area and Hollywood, opening up his own dojo as well as trying to get into the Hollywood scene. He however, didn’t make it and returned to Hong Kong to recreate himself. He made many box office hits in Hong Kong and Bruce Lee became a popular actor overnight. He then worked his way back towards the United States to also become a cultural icon in the US.
Out of all Bruce Lee’s accomplishments, the most interesting thing about him is his ethics and ideas regarding success, martial arts, life and much more. He was overall a great martial artist because he perfected his skill in every utmost level. Here’s a bunch of great Bruce Lee quotes. I would also recommend reading his book The Art of Expressing The Human Body.
“If you always put limit 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.”
“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”
“Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.”
“”A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.””
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not you go out and look for a successful personality an duplicate it.”
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into 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.”
“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”
“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”
“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.”
“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
“Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.”
“To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.”
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
“”To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.””
“Let the spirit out – Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one’s bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.”
There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is.
