Miyamoto Musashi Quotes

You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain

Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.

Do not think dishonestly... Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use.

The path that leads to truth is littered with the bodies of the ignorant.

Even if you strive diligently on your chosen path day after day, if your heart is not in accord with it, then even if you think you are on a good path, from the point of view of the straight and true, this is not a genuine path. If you do not pursue a genuine path to its consummation, then a little bit of crookedness in the mind will later turn into a major warp. Reflect on this.

When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.

Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.

When in a fight to the death, one wants to employ all one's weapons to the utmost. I must say that to die with one's sword still sheathed is most regrettable.

If the enemy stays spirited it is difficult to crush him.

Do not act following customary beliefs.

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world

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

The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you can take the initiative, the halberd is defensive.

A bullet from a gun does not make a distinction between practice and combat. You are training to be one and the same way in your life

If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains.

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.

You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.

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. When you have reached this point, will it not mean that you are invincible?

Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.

If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you

You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.

Anger. Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you.Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated.

Become acquainted with every art.

To cut and slash are two different things. Cutting, whatever form of cutting it is, is decisive, with a resolute spirit. Slashing is nothing more than touching the enemy.

As if with the nut and flower, the nut has become less than the flower... both those teaching and those learning are concerned with colouring and showing off their technique, trying to hasten the bloom of the flower.

Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.

Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit. Be neither insufficiently spirited or over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.

You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.

The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win

In battle, if you you make your opponent flinch, you have already won.

Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor the mind be dragged along by the 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.

Cutting down the enemy is the way of strategy, and there is no need for many refinements of it.

I dreamt of worldly success once.

If you wish to control others you must first control yourself

Whatever your determination or will power, it is foolish to try to change the nature of things. Things work the way they do because that is the way of things

When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.

Immature strategy is the cause of grief.

If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.

The bow is tactically strong at the commencement of battle, especially battles on a moor, as it is possible to shoot quickly among the spearmen.

There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas

Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.

With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view.

...most warriors only perform tricks. The way of the warrior is filled with soul and feeling

Do not waste time idling or thinking after you have set your goals

The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. The strategist makes small things into big things, like building a great Buddha from a one foot model.

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.

No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible. Even with complete and thorough study there is always the possibility of being defeated and although one may be expert in a particular form, mastery is something a man never stops seeking to attain.