When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it will not do to think about going at it in a long roundabout way. One's heart may slacken, he may miss his chance, and by and large there will be no success. The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong.

When confronted with two alternatives, life and death, one is to choose death without hesitation.

There is nothing we should be quite so grateful for as the last line of the poem that goes, 'When your own heart asks.

Singlemindedness is all-powerful.

It is a principle of the art of war that one should simply lay down his life and strike. If one's opponent also does the same, it is a even match. Defeating one's opponent is then a matter of faith and destiny.

It is better to have some unhappiness while one is still young, for if a person does not experience some bitterness, his disposition will not settle down.

Having only wisdom and talent is the lowest tier of usefulness.