Lee Philosophy Quotes & Sayings

Wasting another's time is serious business for they will never get that time back. Ever. — L.R.W. Lee

I wanted you see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. — Harper Lee

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. — Bruce Lee

In any disagreement, I believe both parties are 50% wrong. Taking responsibility for your part fixes most issues. — L.R.W. Lee

If our minds are like a garden, then emotions are like the different flowers that bloom and wither in it all year round, according to the season. Emotions sometimes bring dynamism and significant change to our lives, but we must never be led around by them. — Ilchi Lee

We ought to have more people who believe in constitutionally limited government. We have to have more people come to Congress with that mindset. I think we can make this a better place, if, when elections happen, we support candidates who share that philosophy. — Mike Lee

Don't be confined by the self you have experienced, the self you know. Going beyond what you know and what you have experienced, challenge your brain with new questions and give it new tasks - then it will begin to manifest infinite creativity. — Ilchi Lee

Frustration is your belief that things should be different than they are. So, when frustrated, ask yourself 'what should be different?'. In the end, you will find things are the way they are, as a result of your choices. Accept responsibility and start making different choices. Your life will be more peaceful as a result. — L.R.W. Lee

The philosophy to 'buy and hold' is a philosophy that I use to manage funds. — Michael Lee-Chin

Now, at this very minute, a political philosophy foreign to it is being pressed on the South, and the South's not ready for it - we're finding ourselves in the same deep waters. As sure as time, history is repeating itself, and as sure as man is man, history is the last place he'll look for his lessons. I hope to God it'll be a comparatively bloodless Reconstruction this time. — Harper Lee

The philosophy I always have is what's the sentence that would tell me about each shot. If I can't read why the shot's there, what is the story trying to say? — Jennifer Lee

A kite only flies if it's tethered. — Victor Robert Lee

Love from your heart. Allow love to flow from your heart, like the pure, clear waters of a rushing stream. Standing water putrefies and gives off a foul odor. In the same way, selective, closed love fills your heart with frustration. Love from the heart is unconditional love, an open thing that is offered widely and freely. — Ilchi Lee

I believe in the goddess of mystery. And she's always pregnant! — Victor Robert Lee

My work is the art I paint on the canvas of my life. Hopefully I'm creating a masterpiece. — L.R.W. Lee

After all, the whole of humanity was anchored by inventions, contrivances, unrealities. Xiao Li lived on dreams, as most people do. — Victor Robert Lee

Humanity is part of the cosmic family. All creation is within heaven and earth, but humanity has been given the added responsibility of protecting and caring for our cosmic parents. Humanity suffers when we destroy heaven and earth. Only when we show respect and courtesy toward our cosmic parents can we truly walk the path of the Tao. — Ilchi Lee

Memory: Recognizing the value of an alert mind and an alert memory, I will encourage mine to become alert by taking care to impress it clearly with all thoughts I wish to recall and by associating those thoughts with related subjects which I may call to mind frequently. — Bruce Lee

It's only a cut, a reminder of this day. A reminder to ask every day, Why am I doing this? — Victor Robert Lee

In politics and in war, monsters are defined by which side of a fight a man claims. He is still a man to those who share his beliefs, perhaps even a hero. To those that oppose his philosophy, he is a beast, a creature, one of a thousand unspeakable demons clashing over an ideal. — Lee Thomas

It is culture that is the bully.
Orn Ald yos'Senchul to Theo Waitley, Saltation — Sharon Lee

Hungry for what? Money? No. Power? Over people? That was like having power over clams. — Victor Robert Lee

When you make choices, please remember: what is good for you but not good for others won't be good for you either, eventually; what's good for you and others but not good for the Earth won't be good for you or others either, eventually; what's good for you, others, and the Earth will be good for all. — Ilchi Lee

We live in a broken world; Jesus was honest enough to tell us we'd have trials and tribulations. Sure, I'd like to understand more about why. But Kreeft's conclusion was right--the ultimate answer is Jesus' presence. That sounds sappy, I know. But just wait--when your world is rocked, you don't want philosophy or theology as much as you want the reality of Christ. He was the answer for me. He was the very answer we needed. — Lee Strobel

My father lived by the philosophy, 'Be yourself, because everyone else is taken,' and he made sure I did, too. Whatever I wanted to do, he supported me. I don't mean that I was spoilt - he didn't believe in material gifts - but he watched my back while I worked to achieve things. — Tommy Lee

First, you must remain true to your values and priorities. Never violate your personal values or principles simply in order to get money. This may involve adopting such traits as always acting with honesty, integrity, and compassion in how you make your money; not doing harm to others; and being transparent in your goals and objectives. — Ilchi Lee

If you awaken to this moment, the here and now, then you will know that great peace is generated from a sense of being, and from a connection with the Tao. When you clearly understand and experience the Now, you can create your own happiness through your connection with the divine, your True Self. — Ilchi Lee

To Bruce Lee, philosophy was not the professional playground of academics, but every human being's gateway to the greatest adventure of the human spirit. It illuminated the frontiers of human possibility and obliterated the shadows of doubt and insecurity. Unlike others, content to follow, Bruce Lee insisted upon charting his own course toward truth, and he encouraged those who wished to share his insights to do likewise. While Lee was a champion of individual rights and individual development, both of which stress the sovereignty of the individual as an end in himself, he also spoke to something deeper - the commonality of all human beings and the removal of such artificial barriers to true brotherhood as nationality, ethnicity, and class structure, so that human beings could live together peaceably as independent equals. Bruce Lee rejected blind obedience to — Bruce Lee

Although it can hurt to experience painful relationships with others, it is through these struggles that we grow more rapidly. By reflecting on those relationships, we can observe our habits and motivations, both positive and negative. We can set clear goals about the kind of person we want to be and slowly work to change our habits, and our relationships as a result. In this process, we develop a virtuous character that acts harmoniously with others. — Ilchi Lee

Fear of being wrong paralyzes people. Get over it! If you're wrong, invent a new narrative and move on. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

My philosophy has always been, you don't put your name in front of a movie. — Lee Daniels

You can't just skip the boring parts."
"Of course I can skip the boring parts."
"How do you know they're boring if you don't read them?"
"I can tell."
"Then you can't say you've read the whole play."
"I think I can live a happy life, Meryl Lee, even if I don't read the boring parts of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark."
"Who knows?" she said. "Maybe you can't. — Gary D. Schmidt

Basically it is your choice. No matter what spiritual path you have taken, no matter what experiences you have had, choice is still choice. Spiritual development doesn't happen automatically. It is choosing the eye of Tao that sees both the whole view of things from a distance and the core of reality from deep inside. — Ilchi Lee

Even though consciousness doesn't seem to be confined to the human brain within the skull, we do experience consciousness through our brain. The transformation of consciousness to attention is facilitated by your brain. Driving thoughts into action is also processed by your brain. Your brain is the seat of the creative observer inside you. — Ilchi Lee

The first day of the rest of my life. — Lee Child

The disease of philosophy. - Philosophy is itself the disease for which it pretends to be the cure: the wise man does not pursue wisdom but lives his life, and therein precisely does his wisdom lie. — Bruce Lee

On the way, I shared the backseat of Feyerabend's little sports car with the inflatable raft he kept there in case an 8-point earthquake came while he was on the Bay Bridge. — Lee Smolin

Who am I? is not a question about your job or bank balance. Don't be satisfied with rational or formal answers. Ask yourself seriously and honestly, again and again, and, sooner or later, you'll hear the voice of your soul. The true answer will come to you, breaking through the thick curtain of your ego, which is made up of your name, job, personality, and similar things. — Ilchi Lee

The luckiest people are the hardest working people. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

The road ahead is long and there will be many setbacks. Success is not assured ... but the price of failure has never been this high. — Charles Lee Lesher

I strive for authenticity even though it brings with it vulnerability and the inevitable judgment of others. — L.R.W. Lee

Between the calendar and checkbook, ones priorities are laid bare. — L.R.W. Lee

I had no idea what I was gonna do after I got my degree in philosophy in 1940. But what I did know was at that time, if you were a Chinese-American, even department stores wouldn't hire you. They'd come right out and say, 'We don't hire Orientals.' — Grace Lee Boggs

I've found that replacing one thing for another only means you don't yet know where the glitches are. — L.R.W. Lee

Life is like a rape. If we cannot resist it, split the legs and enjoy it. — Aaron Lee

Where do we begin this process of reevaluation of values? It makes sense to begin with our mind, which is the tool we use to evaluate. Once we make sure it is functioning as it should, we can feel confident in using it to think about our beliefs and priorities. — Ilchi Lee

When you want something and you don't have it, it may be a cause of stress to you. However, if we reflect on how we came to have things that were not there originally, we can be excited, delighted, and grateful that we want something even before we have it. Seen from this perspective, wanting something - or more specifically, being able to want something while it is not there yet - is already a gift in itself. !is is why we offer gratitude. — Ilchi Lee

Music has always been the greatest expression of mortal philosophy," continued Lucky. "The path to enlightenment is found in the lyrics of Spinal Tap. — A. Lee Martinez

Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. The mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes and even ordinary thought itself. — Bruce Lee

In order to recognize the Truth, you have to separate yourself from the Truth; and to explain the Truth, you have to separate yourself from the recognition. This is why a wordsmithed Truth is nothing but a shadow of the shadow of the Truth. If Buddha had yawned instead of holding up a fower, would that gesture have been any less representative of the Truth? — Ilchi Lee

Just remember, everything should be EXACTLY as it is. Not better, not worse. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

Taoist philosophy is essentially monistic. Matter and energy, Yang and Yin, heaven and earth, are conceived of as essentially one or as two coexistent poles of one indivisible whole. — Bruce Lee

Understanding is very different from knowing. Understanding is a psychological process of perceiving an object through reason. It is, in a sense, conceptualizing an object. But an object cannot be fully comprehended by conceptual understanding alone. Knowing is not thinking artificially or mobilizing rational logic. It is a state in which you come to obviously and plainly know, without trying to get it right. — Ilchi Lee

Patience is the deep acceptance that things should be exactly as they are. Most times that's easier said than done. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

I've always thought hard-boiled detective novels an American art form. At their best, they're more than who-dun-its or thrillers, they're vehicles for a writer's observations about culture, politics, philosophy, music, history and a time or a place. Or life, it's ownself. When you read James Ellroy, Dashiell Hammett or James Lee Burke, their stories are always about far more than good guys chasing bad guys. That's the kind of book I wanted to write. Still do. — Jim Nesbitt

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. Be water, my friend. — Bruce Lee

Forget about it," he said. "Sell it to a philosophy quarterly or an urban anthropology journal, or write a fucking script if you want and let Spike Lee shoot the motherfucker, but it's not going to run in any magazine of mine. — Roberto Bolano

A good basic character should be developed even before discussing enlightenment or the growth of your soul. That's why Zen initiates developed their basic character traits through nine years of study - three years of cleaning, three years of firewood collecting and cutting, and three years of cooking. Teachings on the Tao were transmitted only to those who had successfully cultivated such character in themselves. — Ilchi Lee

No matter how much people recognize you, or how popular you are with them, you will be unhappy unless you acknowledge yourself. True recognition does not only come from those around you or the world. It comes when you recognize and love yourself — Ilchi Lee

My sense, although I don't remember discussing it with anyone, was that with the fall of France to the Nazis in June 1940, European civilization had collapsed. I also recalled that although both George Herbert Mead and John Dewey had been born in New England, they developed their distinctively American philosophy of pragmatism in Chicago. So thinking of my own New England roots, I decided to go to Chicago, which, seen through Carl Sandburg's eyes, was the opposite of European decadence: Hog Butcher for the World, Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler, Stormy, husky, brawling. City of the Big Shoulders.7 — Grace Lee Boggs

You control whether you are happy. It's all your narrative and you can change it if you choose to. - L. R. W. Lee Andy Smithson: Blast of the Dragon's Fury — L.R.W. Lee

The Western approach to reality is mostly through theory, and theory begins by denying reality
to talk about reality, to go around reality, to catch anything that attracts our sense-intellect and abstract it away from reality itself. Thus philosophy begins by saying that the outside world is not a basic fact, that its existence can be doubted and that every proposition in which the reality of the outside world is affirmed is not an evident proposition but one that needs to be divided, dissected and analyzed. It is to stand consciously aside and try to square a circle. — Bruce Lee

I believe one should never invalidate another, even if you don't agree. No one is ever 100% right or 100% wrong. There is always some measure of truth on both sides. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

Roilant caught himself, with exasperation, slipping into vacuous philosophy, a sure sign his opinion of life was at its very lowest. — Tanith Lee

Life for dreamers may not be easy, but it beats drifting. You never know where you'll end up drifting, maybe someplace good, maybe not. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

To change someone's mind, requires only that you speak a more compelling narrative about their situation than their current one. — L.R.W. Lee

Trust your instinct in areas you have some background because your instinct is informed and not blind. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

If you don't have a narrative, just make one up. You can always change it when you have more clarity. Any narrative beats no narrative. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

My worldview, my philosophy, my attitudes, my relationships, my parenting, my marriage - everything has been transformed by my relationship with Christ. — Lee Strobel

When you let go of expectations and just dive in, possibilities you couldn't have dreamed of emerge. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

Motivation fades because it's emotion driven. Mobilization doesn't fade because it's ambition driven. Connect with your passion! - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

Indifference kills. It takes much less thought to be indifferent than to hate. — L.R.W. Lee

One may not be able to trade in gratitude as a currency, but gratitude is the currency of true wealth. - L. R. W. Lee — L.R.W. Lee

You don't approve?" Joan asked, picking up on Delphine's tone.
"Their stories were for themselves, not the Mirrors."
"What do you mean?" said Bea.
"Certainly sometimes a good little character would find a lamp, and would not be so corrupted by the strangely endless possibilities of three wishes that they ended up causing more harm than they ever imagined. Those stories fostered belief, they were retold, certainly; but they were few and far between. Most of the genie's tales showed the characters exactly who they really were, not when they were despised and degraded, not when they'd reached the gutter and been given licence to look at the stars. No, the genies showed them who they were when they were invincible. The characters, they try to forget stories like that. — F.D. Lee

Our world desperately needs change. We all know this. The scope of the change ranges from our lifestyles to the direction of our civilization. When we acknowledge our greatness and start living it, when we open our hearts to the natural kindness and the caring for all beings that resides within us, all these necessary transformations can begin. — Ilchi Lee

I'm a layperson. I barely got out of high school. I have no business telling people what to do or my big philosophy on life. I'm certainly not going to write any sort of memoir. — Jamie Lee Curtis

I'm a philosophy major. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed. — Bruce Lee

True communion with nature becomes possible when the energy sense is turned on and heightened. You're moved by the sounds of a bird singing in the morning, and you can feel the principles of nature even in a single leaf falling with its back to the setting sun. You come to realize that you were never alone, that you have always been breathing surrounded by the massive energy of life. — Ilchi Lee

I'm online, therefore I am. — Stewart Lee Beck

Consider precious your fundamental questions about life. Love that heart that holds doubt: Is this really all there is? Continue to dig into that mind. When your thirst for the Tao grows sharper and sharper and, like an arrow, pierces your soul, your eyes for seeing the Tao will start to open, like a chick breaking through its shell to emerge from its egg. — Ilchi Lee

If you dance, you'll feel more joyful. Just thinking isn't going to make you feel better. Think about how joyful you'll feel as you dance. Don't repeat the foolishness of putting off dancing as you debate whether dance will really bring you joy. We feel joy as soon as we dance. Everything is like that. — Ilchi Lee

When the long bygone Lee Po wanted to say something, he could do it with only a few words. — Dejan Stojanovic

Bruce Lee was very famous. I watched his movies and he is amazing. He is a martial arts master, his philosophy, his movement, both physically and mentally, were very strong. — Jet Li

And are we not all "mere guests" upon this whirling earth? — Lee Smith

Our individual reality is borne out of our interpretations. Interpretations come from our experiences. — L.R.W. Lee

Good" and "Bad" may be alien concepts to him, Ben. — Stan Lee

In reality, we don't die, but merely change. Energy reveals and hides itself repeatedly as it flows along. The flame of life flickers on and off, again and again. How could the flame going out for a brief time signify extinction? There is no life and death separate from the infinite life energy of the cosmos. The phenomena of life energy merely change and cycle in accordance with the law of infinite energy. — Ilchi Lee

It's a heavy responsibility, having saved someone's life. You feel an allegiance because you saved them, but it's hard to know if you did the right thing. — Victor Robert Lee

Certainty shuts down possibilities and keeps us small. — L.R.W. Lee