Musashi Miyamoto Quotes & Sayings

Do not think dishonestly. 2. The Way is in training. 3. Become acquainted with every art. 4. Know the Ways of all professions. 5. Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. 6. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything. 7. Perceive those things which cannot be seen. 8. Pay attention even to trifles. 9. Do nothing which is of no use. — Miyamoto Musashi

Become acquainted with every art. — Miyamoto Musashi

Never stray from the Way. — Miyamoto Musashi

4 years earlier "This is truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn." Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings. — Phillip W. Simpson

The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions — Miyamoto Musashi

Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you. — Miyamoto Musashi

In strategy it is necessary to treat training as part of normal life with your spirit unchanging. — Miyamoto Musashi

In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about. — Miyamoto Musashi

The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win — Miyamoto Musashi

This is a truth: when you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon yet undrawn. — Miyamoto Musashi

Immature strategy is the cause of grief". — Miyamoto Musashi

When in a fight to the death, one wants to employ all one's weapons to the utmost. I must say that to die with one's sword still sheathed is most regrettable. — Miyamoto Musashi

Respect the gods and Buddhas, but do not depend on them. — Miyamoto Musashi

A bullet from a gun does not make a distinction between practice and combat. You are training to be one and the same way in your life — Miyamoto Musashi

The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him. — Miyamoto Musashi

True warriors are fierce because their training is fierce. — Miyamoto Musashi

Do not regret what you have done — Miyamoto Musashi

It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet — Miyamoto Musashi

Consider yourself lightly; consider the world deeply. — Miyamoto Musashi

There is even rhythm in being empty. — Miyamoto Musashi

The fact of the matter is that the world does not care about you or me, our hopes, our desires, or our dreams. And, the world of dreams, hopes, and desires that is constructed between our ears it is not necessarily a reflection of what is actually going on around us. — Miyamoto Musashi

In sum, it is not good to let the hand or the sword become fixed or frozen.87 A fixed hand is a dead hand; a hand that does not become fixed is alive. It is necessary to master this well. — Miyamoto Musashi

Thirdly, the gentleman warrior, carrying the weaponry of his way. The way of the warrior is to master the virtue of his weapons. If a gentleman dislikes strategy he will not appreciate the benefit of weaponry, so must he not have a little taste for this? — Miyamoto Musashi

from one thing, know ten thousand things — Miyamoto Musashi

In the strategy of my school, keep your body and mind straight and make your opponent go through contortions and twist about. The essence is to defeat him in the moment when, in his mind, he is pivoting and twisting. You should examine this well. — Miyamoto Musashi

Do not let your opponent see your spirit — Miyamoto Musashi

The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them — Miyamoto Musashi

It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. — Miyamoto Musashi

If a man chooses a certain Way and seems to have no particular talent for this Way, he can still become a master if he so chooses. By keeping at a particular form of study a man can attain perfection either in this life or the next (if a next life is believed in). — Miyamoto Musashi

To cut and slash are two different things. Cutting, whatever form of cutting it is, is decisive, with a resolute spirit. Slashing is nothing more than touching the enemy. — Miyamoto Musashi

If you wish to control others you must first control yourself — Miyamoto Musashi

The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. The strategist makes small things into big things, like building a great Buddha from a one foot model. — Miyamoto Musashi

One must make the warrior walk his everyday walk. — Miyamoto Musashi

Fixation is the way to death. Fluidity is the way to life. — Miyamoto Musashi

In my school, no consideration is given to anything unreasonable; the heart of the matter is to use the power of the knowledge of martial arts to gain victory any way you can. — Miyamoto Musashi

The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you can take the initiative, the halberd is defensive. — Miyamoto Musashi

When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. — Miyamoto Musashi

Fixed formation is bad. Study this well. — Miyamoto Musashi

Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love. — Miyamoto Musashi

Teaching people a large number of sword techniques254 is turning the way into a business of selling goods, making beginners believe that there is something profound in their training by impressing them with a variety of techniques. This attitude toward strategy must be avoided, because thinking that there is a variety of ways of cutting a man down is evidence of a disturbed mind. In the world, different ways of cutting a man down do not exist. — Miyamoto Musashi

Unless you really understand others, you can hardly attain your own self-understanding. — Miyamoto Musashi

As if with the nut and flower, the nut has become less than the flower ... both those teaching and those learning are concerned with colouring and showing off their technique, trying to hasten the bloom of the flower. — Miyamoto Musashi

If you are not progressing along the true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be pondered well. — Miyamoto Musashi

Also by training you will be able to freely control your own body, conquer men with your body, and with sufficient training you will be able to beat ten men with your spirit. When you have reached this point, will it not mean that you are invincible? — Miyamoto Musashi

Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help — Miyamoto Musashi

When you have attained the way of strategy there will be nothing that you cannot understand. You will see the way in everything. — Miyamoto Musashi

There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice. — Miyamoto Musashi

A thousand days of training to develop, ten thousand days of training to polish. You must examine all this well. — Miyamoto Musashi

Approach the enemy with the attitude of defeating him without delay. — Miyamoto Musashi

Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. — Miyamoto Musashi

Why would you want to appear as one thing and be another? If you are a warrior then you are a warrior and if you are not a warrior then you are not a warrior. The Way of the warrior is the Way of the warrior. To be a warrior, look like a warrior and stand like a warrior. Do not be false to yourself. — Miyamoto Musashi

You must cultivate your wisdom and spirit. Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the Ways of different arts one by one. When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realized the wisdom of strategy. — Miyamoto Musashi

Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast ... .Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy. — Miyamoto Musashi

In battle, if you you make your opponent flinch, you have already won. — Miyamoto Musashi

You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect. — Miyamoto Musashi

As you get the rhythm you discern how to win. — Miyamoto Musashi

In the construction of houses, choice of woods is made. Straight un-knotted timber of good appearance is used for the revealed pillars, straight timber with small defects is used for the inner pillars. Timbers of the finest appearance, even if a little weak, is used for the thresholds, lintels, doors, and sliding doors, and so on. Good strong timber, though it be gnarled and knotted, can always be used discreetly in construction. — Miyamoto Musashi

A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study. — Miyamoto Musashi

You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain — Miyamoto Musashi

If the enemy stays spirited it is difficult to crush him. — Miyamoto Musashi

Strategy is the craft of the warrior. — Miyamoto Musashi

You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour. — Miyamoto Musashi

The bow is tactically strong at the commencement of battle, especially battles on a moor, as it is possible to shoot quickly among the spearmen. — Miyamoto Musashi

Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death. — Miyamoto Musashi

There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas — Miyamoto Musashi

What I call the void is where nothing exists. It is about things outside man's knowledge. Of course the void does not exist. By knowing what exist, you can know that which does not exist. That is the void. — Miyamoto Musashi

You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you. — Miyamoto Musashi

The principle of my school is quite different. In the other schools, techniques are displayed like merchandise adorned with colors and flowers, so they can be turned into a way of making a living, which is not the true way. — Miyamoto Musashi

From inside fortifications, the gun has no equal among weapons. It is the supreme weapon on the field before the ranks clash, but once swords are crossed the gun becomes useless. — Miyamoto Musashi

When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void. — Miyamoto Musashi

It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. — Miyamoto Musashi

Then you will come to see things in an all-encompassing sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void.

In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom exists, principle exists, the way exists. Spirit is Void. — Miyamoto Musashi

You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well. — Miyamoto Musashi

To know ten thousand things, know one well — Miyamoto Musashi

Never depart from the way of martial arts. — Miyamoto Musashi

Crossing at a ford occurs often in a man's lifetime. It means setting sail even though your friends stay in harbour, knowing the route, knowing the soundness of your ship and the favour of the day. — Miyamoto Musashi

There is no one way to salvation, whatever the manner in which a man may proceed. All forms and variations are governed by the eternal intelligence of the Universe that enables a man to approach perfection. It may be in the arts of music and painting or it may be in commerce, law, or medicine. It may be in the study of war or the study of peace. Each is as important as any other. Spiritual enlightenment through religious meditation such as Zen or in any other way is as viable and functional as any "Way." ... A person should study as they see fit. — Miyamoto Musashi

As the innocent infant relies upon the mother for sustenance, so the innocent wanderer, following his native compassion and bliss, relies upon the natural intelligence of life to sustain him. There are various Ways. There is the Way of salvation by the law of Buddha, the Way of Confucius governing the Way of learning, the Way of healing as a doctor, as a poet teaching the Way of Waka, tea, archery, and many arts and skills. Each man practices as he feels inclined. — Miyamoto Musashi

People in this world look at things mistakenly, and think that what they do not understand must be the void. This is not the true void. It is bewilderment ... — Miyamoto Musashi

Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man. — Miyamoto Musashi

If you learn indoor techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters. — Miyamoto Musashi

All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. — Miyamoto Musashi

guard. It is in this sense that I recommend the guard without a guard. Whatever the situation is, you hold the sword so that you can slash your opponent. — Miyamoto Musashi

Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor the mind be dragged along by the body — Miyamoto Musashi

As far as Im concerned, I regret nothing. — Miyamoto Musashi

With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view. — Miyamoto Musashi

When you attack the enemy, your spirit must go to the extent of pulling the stakes out of a wall and using them as spears and halberds. — Miyamoto Musashi

The way is in training. — Miyamoto Musashi

Do not waste time idling or thinking after you have set your goals — Miyamoto Musashi

This is truth: When you sacrifice your life, you must make fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so, and to die with a weapon as yet undrawn. — Miyamoto Musashi

This Fudo Myo-o, whose name means "Immovable Wisdom King," is represented with a sword to cut through our ignorance and a rope to bind up our emotions — Miyamoto Musashi

Even if you strive diligently on your chosen path day after day, if your heart is not in accord with it, then even if you think you are on a good path, from the point of view of the straight and true, this is not a genuine path. If you do not pursue a genuine path to its consummation, then a little bit of crookedness in the mind will later turn into a major warp. Reflect on this. — Miyamoto Musashi

Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea. — Miyamoto Musashi

By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist. — Miyamoto Musashi

The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things. — Miyamoto Musashi

If you fail to take advantage of your enemies' collapse, they may recover. — Miyamoto Musashi

If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything. — Miyamoto Musashi

Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie. — Miyamoto Musashi

Too much is the same as not enough. — Miyamoto Musashi

Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior. — Miyamoto Musashi