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.

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.

There is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished.

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.

Bushido is realised in the presence of death. In the case of having to choose between life and death you should choose death. There is no other reasoning.

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.

When delivering something like an important letter or other written materials, grasp it firmly in your hand as you go and do not release it once, but hand it over directly to the recipient.