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

The saying 'the arts aid the body' is for samurai of other regions. For samurai of the Nabeshima clan the arts bring ruin to the body.

I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.

If one thinks only of winning, a sordid victory will be worse than a defeat. For the most part, it becomes a squalid defeat.

The way of the Samurai is found in death.

A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.

There is not a man who does not get senile by the time he reaches sixty. And when one thinks that he will not be senile, he is already so.