The Arts Quotes

Everything in life goes back to the basics.

No one has the right to beat you.

If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.

To understand your fear is the beginning of really seeing.

Anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way

There are no shortcuts because there is no end

Fighting is an expression. It's a form of speech, and that's why they call it martial arts. It's an art.

I wanted to paint a picture some day that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet.

As a lifelong practitioner of martial arts, I'm trained to remain calm in the face of adversity and danger.

I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.

The sculptor, and the painter also, should be trained in these liberal arts: grammar, geometry, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, perspective, history, anatomy, theory of design, arithmetic.

Courage is being afraid, but then doing what you have to do anyway.

Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?

I practice the martial arts. I don't practice MMA. MMA is my job, MMA is a new sport. Martial arts is the knowledge from the ages.

Never leave an enemy standing.

I have not permitted myself to be ignorant of any martial art that exists. Why? Such ignorance is a disgrace to someone who follows the path of the martial arts.

If you do something and it saves your life, it was good taijutsu. In a real fight, you aren't worried about what's pretty.

Behind each triumph are new peaks to be conquered.

In the martial arts, introspection begets wisdom. Always see contemplation on your actions as an opportunity to improve.

Martial arts have two parts. One is external, other internal. The external is physical part. The internal is philosophy of how to be, what kind of person learns martial arts.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people.

My goal is to share all my learning, all of my knowledge, so that other generations of martial arts will benefit.

I've come to understand that life is best lived, not conceptualized.

Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.

I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged.

There is no first strike in Karate.

The real purpose of the martial arts must be to purge oneself of petty ambitions and desire, to obtain control of one’s own character.

Mixed Martial Arts is a dangerous practice that could result in injuries and loss of life.

I do mixed martial arts, mainly kickboxing.

Understand that the essence of martial arts is not the art itself, but what's hidden deep within yourself.

Optimism is a faith that leads to success.

The purpose of a liberal arts education is to learn that a person can like both cats and dogs.

The real self of an artiste lies in art, so when an artiste performs, all the pain, trauma and tension get released through art, be it dancing, painting, singing, writing or even martial arts.

Martial arts, like any art, is an unrestricted athletic expression of an individual soul.

Where there is no style, there is no slave. Martial Arts mean honestly expressing yourself. No style. No slave.

Martial arts is for defense. It's not for attacking. So when people are fighting, always, always, defend.

If you change the rules on what controls you... you will change the rules on what you can control.

There is incredible power in the arts to inspire and influence.

If mere mechanical efficiency can make everyone a martial artist, then all is well. Unfortunately, combat, like freedom, is something that can not be preconceived.

The arts and humanities teach us who we are and what we can be. They lie at the very core of the culture of which we're a part.

A student's mentality in learning martial arts is to overcome one's problems.

Since I do seven different styles of martial arts, I don't foresee myself fighting the same in any two movies. I think every fighting style should fit the character that's doing the fighting.

Boards don't hit back.

I think this confusion leads intellectuals and artists themselves to believe that the elite arts and humanities are a kind of higher, exalted form of human endeavor.

Martial arts are a vehicle for developing your human potential.

We are the modern day gladiators.

Be drawn to the visual arts for it can expand your imagination.

I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.

When I was a kid, I had two great guilty pleasures. One was horror movies and the other was martial arts movies.

Don't be rushed, be sure.