An affected laugh shows lack of self-respect in a man and lewdness in a woman. It is carelessness to go about with one's hands inside the slits in the sides of his hakama.

This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.

Go ahead and gamble a lie. A person who will not tell you seven lies within a hundred yards is useless as a man.

By being impatient, matters are damaged and great works cannot be done

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.

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.

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.