Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.

Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery.

Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty.

There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.

When one is writing a letter, he should think that the recipient will make it into a hanging scroll.

Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead

By inconsistency and frivolity we stray from the Way and show ourselves to be beginners. In this we do much harm.