To desire with one’s very soul every second of every day to accomplish one’s aim.

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

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

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.

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.

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

If one is but secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation. But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one's way of doing things are found in trivial matters.