Readers and friends, I’d like to submit a humble request to you. Following the reading of this sentence, shut your eyes, take a breath, and attempt to retreat as wholly as possible into yourself. Really reach deep, taking the time to identify the various positive and negative characteristics of your personality and summing them together to create a rough estimate of a third person perspective of the creature you are. How do you fit into your group of friends, your family, workplace, or even society as a whole?
Now, I’ll need you to muster up every last bit of vitality you possess, and utilize it to probe as far as possible into the shifting seas of your personality. Once you’re there, ask yourself one question, the most important question: am I cooler than Bruce Lee?
For an astonishing 99.9% of the population, the answer to this question is a resounding no, but don’t be discouraged. The Chinese-American martial arts star made a name for himself with his incredible mastery over not only his physical body, but also his mental and emotional states.
Few individuals can achieve the kind of zen status that Lee did, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from his intensity. Listed below are five of Bruce Lee’s most telling quotes, along with interpretations on how you, humble readers, can inject of that Bruce Lee intensity into your own life.
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
At first glance, this quote seems rather self-explanatory. Of course a Wise man can learn more than a foolish man; that’s the exact reason the man is considered wise. However, like almost all things Lee, it really comes down to a matter of perspective. A wise man, a man of learning, will seek to better himself in every situation in life, even a foolish question. Furthermore, the statement speaks to the fact that wise men seek answers from all sources of knowledge. Rather than simply dismissing the question as foolish, a wise man seeks some meaning in the question, even if that meaning is simply an indication that the speaker of the question is a fool.
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
Most all celebrities have quotes like this. It’s a fantastic way for the celebrities to justify just about any behavior or action, especially those on the negative side of the spectrum. However, Lee modifies this quote with the addition of the second phrase, “you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” Suddenly, this quote jumps from a feeble, half-hearted justification to a statement on the virtue of being alive. Lee removes social context from the equation and brings it down to a more basic level: true satisfaction in life cannot come from outside, but instead is a product of fulfilling the expectations you hold of yourself.
“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”
Continuing in the theme of self-satisfaction, Lee here discusses the merits of living a Life Worth Remembering. Again, the master highlights the rift between the world’s expectations of a person and their own expectations. By living a life rife with fulfillment of one’s one expectations, a person will live a life worth remembering. Sure, they may die, but others will take note of their extraordinary time on earth, and through the memories and adorations of others, the person will have achieved immortality. One can certainly see the wisdom behind this quote, as it describes the exact pattern of Bruce Lee’s own life.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
This quote might remind one of the infamous saying that it takes “10,000 hours of practice to become a master of something,” and indeed both quotes refer to the importance of practicing one’s art. Furthermore, Lee’s quote also speaks to the power of focus. By selecting one venue in which you’re particularly interested and spending a great deal of time developing said skill, one will overall be far more effective than a “jack of all trades”.
“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
If we’re being perfectly honest (and I’d like to think we are), this is one of the best Bruce Lee Quotes of all time, or at least one that contains a particularly healthy dose of wisdom. Here, Lee describes the importance of flexibility in the ever-changing stream of life. Ever noticed how the people that seem the happiest, or at least the most comfortable with themselves, are those that are willing to make changes? Stubborn, needlessly headstrong people tend to panic and experience discomfort when live inevitably changes, whereas the more flexible, go-with-the-flow types tend to be just fine.
As this quotes make quite evident, Bruce Lee was one of the most insightful masters of martial arts of our time. His philosophies on life aren’t given justice in just a single post, so be sure to check back in the next couple days for the second installment of Bruce Lee’s top quotes. Until, try to really internalize the wisdom presented above and make it a part of your life.
The Best Bruce Lee Quotes of All Time is a post from: ToobBox.com - Share Your World with Social Playlists
