Bruce Lee was an iconic American actor and martial artist. He is widely credited with helping to popularize martial arts and is known for his roles in films such as Enter the Dragon and The Big Boss. He died in 1973 at the age of 32, but his legacy lives on as one of the most influential martial artists of all time. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Bruce Lee on life, fighting, love.
Quick Jump To
Top 10 Bruce Lee Quotes
Bruce Lee Quotes About Life
Bruce Lee Quotes About Fighting
Bruce Lee Quotes About Love
Bruce Lee Quotes About Water
Bruce Lee Quotes About Words
Bruce Lee Quotes About Emotions
Bruce Lee Quotes About Martial Arts
Bruce Lee Quotes About Training
Bruce Lee Quotes About Fear
Bruce Lee Quotes About Inspirational
Bruce Lee Quotes About Simplicity
Bruce Lee Quotes About Living
Short Bruce Lee Quotes
Life Lessons
Famous Bruce Lee Quotes
Top 10 Bruce Lee Quotes
Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.
The past is no more; the future not yet. Nothing exists except the here and now. Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at our hands.
You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic. If words control your that means everyone can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. — Bruce Lee
Obey the principles without being bound by them. — Bruce Lee
The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. — Bruce Lee
A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.
To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.
Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.
Sorrows are our best educator. A man can see further through a tear than a telescope.
Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.
Every man today is the result of his thoughts yesterday.
Cease negative mental chattering. If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.
Bruce Lee Quotes About Life
Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one — Bruce Lee
If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. — Bruce Lee
If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. — Bruce Lee
All types of knowledge, ultimately mean self knowledge.
There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. — Bruce Lee
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. — Bruce Lee
Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning. — Bruce Lee
The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.
Simplicity is the key to brilliance. — Bruce Lee
In life, what more can you ask for than to be real? — Bruce Lee
Concepts vs. self-actualization. - Instead of dedicating your life to actualize a concept of what you should be like, ACTUALIZE YOURSELF. The process of maturing does not mean to become a captive of conceptualization. It is to come to the realization of what lies in our innermost selves. — Bruce Lee
Are you going to let the obstacles in your life be stumbling blocks or stepping stones? Choose the positive. You are the master of your attitude. — Bruce Lee
motivational quote by Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Fighting
A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard. — Bruce Lee
The essence of fighting is the art of moving at the right time. — Bruce Lee
A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract; and when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, "I" do not hit, "it" hits all by itself. — Bruce Lee
A good fighter must sense rather than perceive his chance to strike. — Bruce Lee
Forget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain — Bruce Lee
I personally do not believe in the word style. Why? Because, unless there are human beings with three arms and four legs, unless we have another group of human beings that are structually different from us, there can be no different style of fighting. — Bruce Lee
There's so much myth and baloney. Like a 80-year-old man able to manhandle a 300-pounder with his little finger. Ridiculous. Or this matter of breaking bricks and boards wth the edge of your hand. Now I ask you, did you ever see a brick or a board pick a fight with anybody? — Bruce Lee
Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end. — Bruce Lee
My style? You can call it the art of fighting without fighting. — Bruce Lee
When you're talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body! — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Love
Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable. — Bruce Lee
Love is like a friendship caught on fire. — Bruce Lee
There is no love without friendship. Passion alone does not form relationships of value. — Bruce Lee
If you truly love life, don’t waste time because time is what life is made of. — Bruce Lee
If one loves, one need not have an ideology of love. — Bruce Lee
Time means a lot to me because, you see, I, too, am also a learner and am often lost in the joy of forever developing and simplifying. If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Water
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
Running water never grows stale. — Bruce Lee
When one has reached maturity in this art, one will have the formless form. It is like the dissolving or thawing [of] ice into water that can shape itself to any structure. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, one can fit in with any style. — Bruce Lee
Emptiness the starting point. — In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty. — Bruce Lee
Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend. — Bruce Lee
Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. — Bruce Lee
In Buddhism, there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand. — Bruce Lee
The idea is that flowing water never goes stale, so just keep on flowing. — Bruce Lee
If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you. — Bruce Lee
If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo. — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Words
Art is never decoration, embellishment; instead, it is work of enlightenment. Art, in other words, is a technique for acquiring liberty. — Bruce Lee
I'm not a master. I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning. So I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word 'master.' I consider the master as such when they close the casket. — Bruce Lee
Can you look at a situation without naming it? Naming it, making it a word, causes fear. — Bruce Lee
False teachers of the Way of life use flowery words. — Bruce Lee
The word "superstar" is an ilusion — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Emotions
The principle of martial arts is not a thing that can be learned, like a science, by fact-finding and instruction in facts. It has to grow spontaneously, like a flower, in a mind free from emotions and desires. — Bruce Lee
You need emotional content. — Bruce Lee
Emotion can be the enemy, if you give into your emotion, you lose yourself. You must be at one with your emotion, because the body always follows the mind. — Bruce Lee
Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Martial Arts
For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime. — Bruce Lee
The truth is outside of all fixed patterns. — Bruce Lee
What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become. — Bruce Lee
To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is. — Bruce Lee
The martial arts are ultimately self-knowledge. A punch or a kick is not to knock the hell out of the guy in front, but to knock the hell out of your ego, your fear, or your hang-ups. — Bruce Lee
Choose the positive. You have choice, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. — Bruce Lee
A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. — Bruce Lee
Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal. — Bruce Lee
Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is very important. Most people live only for their image — Bruce Lee
I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowled — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Training
A quality martial artist is always ready for any move, and trains oneself invincible. — Bruce Lee
The martial arts are based upon understanding, hard work and a total comprehension of skills. Power training and the use of force are easy, but total comprehension of all of the skills of the martial arts is very difficult to achieve. — Bruce Lee
Since weight training involves repetitions, a great deal of energy must be exerted. Therefore, weight training should be practiced only every other day. — Bruce Lee
If you're talking about combat - as it is - well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body! The Lethal Physique of Bruce Lee — Bruce Lee
Training for strength and flexibility is a must. You must use it to support your techniques. Techniques alone are no good if you don't support them with strength and flexibility. — Bruce Lee
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. — Bruce Lee
If you knew you had to fight for your life tomorrow, would you change your training today? — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Fear
People fear what they do not understand. — Bruce Lee
Let the spirit out - Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will. — Bruce Lee
Don't fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. — Bruce Lee
A kung fu man who was really good was not proud at all. Pride emphasizes the superiority of one's status. There has to be fear and insecurity in pride, because when you aim at being highly esteemed and achieve such status, you automatically start to worry about losing status. — Bruce Lee
Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better. — Bruce Lee
I do not fear the man who practices 1,000 kicks one time each. I fear the man who practices 1 kick 1,000 times. — Bruce Lee
To understand your fear is the beginning of really seeing. — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Inspirational
Knowing is not enough, You must apply — Bruce Lee
Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity. — Bruce Lee
Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind. — Bruce Lee
Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light. — Bruce Lee
Let nature take its course and your tools will strike at the right moment. — Bruce Lee
A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence. — Bruce Lee
I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself. — Bruce Lee
I've come to understand that life is best lived, not conceptualized. — Bruce Lee
I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. — Bruce Lee
It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to ask when you're being knocked down, 'Why am I being knocked down?' If a person can reflect in this way, then there is hope for this person. — Bruce Lee
Out of chaos, find simplicity, From discord, find harmony. — Bruce Lee
When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity. — Bruce Lee
One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity. — Bruce Lee
The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity. — Bruce Lee
The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity ... the ability to express the utmost with the minimum. It is the halfway cultivation that leads to ornamentation. — Bruce Lee
The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation. — Bruce Lee
There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. — Bruce Lee
Simplicity of expression rather than complexity of form. — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee Quotes About Living
In order to realize our true self we must be willing to live without being dependent upon the opinion of others. — Bruce Lee
Open yourself and flow, my friend. Flow in the total openness of the living moment. — Bruce Lee
Real living is living for others. — Bruce Lee
The past is an illusion. You must learn to live in the present and accept yourself for what you are now. What you lack in flexibility and agility you must make up with knowledge and constant practice. — Bruce Lee
Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system. — Bruce Lee
It is better to live as a broken piece of jade, than to live as a useless clay. — Bruce Lee
The moment is freedom. — I couldn’t live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them. — Bruce Lee
I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. — Bruce Lee
Art lives where absolute freedom is, because where it is not, there can be no creativity. — Bruce Lee
If I tell you I'm good, you probably will say I'm boasting. But if I tell you I'm not good, you'll know I'm lying. — Bruce Lee
If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. — Bruce Lee
Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. — Bruce Lee
Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential. — Bruce Lee
To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities. — Bruce Lee
To become a champion requires a good mental attitude toward preparation. You have to accept the most tedious task with pleasure. — Bruce Lee
Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts, all problems are brought into existence -drop them. — Bruce Lee
The best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt on any style. He kicks too good for a Boxer, throws too good for a Karate man, and punches too good for a Judo man. — Bruce Lee
One rule is to not use complicated techniques unless they are necessary to achieve your goal. First, use simple movements, and if they don't work, then introduce the more complex ones. — Bruce Lee
Your state of mind is everything. — Bruce Lee
The truth is outside of all fixed patterns. — Bruce Lee
Anxiety is the gap between the NOW and the THEN. So if you are in the NOW, you can't be anxious, because your excitement flows immediately into ongoing spontaneous activity. — Bruce Lee
When you say that something is impossible, you have made it impossible. — Bruce Lee
Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. — Bruce Lee
Self-knowledge involves relationship. To know oneself is to study one self in action with another person. Relationship is a process of self evaluation and self revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself - to be is to be related. — Bruce Lee
True refinement seeks simplicity. — Bruce Lee
Recognizing that the power of will is the supreme court over all other departments of my mind, I will exercise daily when I need the urge to act for any purpose; and I will form habits designed to bring the power of my will into action at least once daily. — Bruce Lee
The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits. — Bruce Lee
Only the self-sufficient stand alone - most people follow the crowd and imitate. — Bruce Lee
Practice makes perfect. After a long time of practicing, our work will become natural, skillfull, swift, and steady. — Bruce Lee
We have great work ahead of us, and it needs devotion and much, much energy. To grow, to discover, we need involvement, which is something I experience every day - sometimes good, sometimes frustrating. No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness. — Bruce Lee
Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. — Bruce Lee
Don't ignore the five senses in search of a sixth. — Bruce Lee
I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude. — Bruce Lee
Showing off is the fool's idea of glory. — Bruce Lee
Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with escaping safely- lay your life before him!! — Bruce Lee
Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick. — Bruce Lee
As you think, so shall you become. — Bruce Lee
You will never learn anything new unless you are ready to accept yourself with your limitations. You must accept the fact that you are capable in some directions and limited in others, and you must develop your capabilities. — Bruce Lee
Get maximum effect from minimum effort. — Bruce Lee
Turn your sparring into play - but always play seriously. — Bruce Lee
Knowledge will give you power, but character respect. — Bruce Lee
Learning is definitely not mere imitation, nor is it the ability to accumulate and regurgitate fixed knowledge. Learning is a constant process of discovery - a process without end. — Bruce Lee
The possession of anything begins in the mind. — Bruce Lee
The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'do' the punch or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over will only work to opposite effect. — Bruce Lee
The usefulness of the cup is its emptiness. — Bruce Lee
I am not afraid of a person who knows 10000 kicks. But I am afraid of a person who knows one kick but practices it for 10000 times. — Bruce Lee
What we are after is the root and not the branches. The root is the real knowledge; the branches are surface knowledge. Real knowledge breeds 'body feel' and personal expression; surface knowledge breeds mechanical conditioning and imposing limitation and squelches creativity. — Bruce Lee
Effort within the mind further limits the mind, because effort implies struggle towards a goal and when you have a goal, a purpose, an end in view, you have placed a limit on the mind. — Bruce Lee
Cease negative mental chattering. If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed. — Bruce Lee
A man strikes you, make him bleed. He makes you bleed, you break his bones. He breaks your bones, kill him. Being hit is inevitable, strike back twice as hard. — Bruce Lee
Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless. — Bruce Lee
You have to create your own luck. You have to be aware of the opportunities around you and take advantage of them. — Bruce Lee
Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed. — Bruce Lee
when one is not expressing himself, he is not free. thus, he begins to struggle and the struggle breeds methodical routine. Soon, he is doing his methodical routine as response rather than responding to what is. — Bruce Lee
The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest. — Bruce Lee
Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against. — Bruce Lee
Be a calm beholder of what is happening around you. — Bruce Lee
Sincere thought means thought of concentration (quiet awareness). The thought of a distracted mind cannot be sincere — Bruce Lee
People try to hold onto the sameness. This holding onto prevents growth. — Bruce Lee
Without frustration you will not discover that you might be able to do something on your own. We grow through conflict. — Bruce Lee
Be happy, but never satisfied. — Bruce Lee
Put 'going the extra mile' to work as part of one's daily habit — Bruce Lee
To me defeat in anything is merely temporary. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth. — Bruce Lee
Life Lessons by Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee taught us to be fearless in the face of adversity and to never give up when pursuing our goals.
He also emphasized the importance of physical and mental discipline, as well as the need to stay humble and open-minded.
Finally, Bruce Lee showed us that we can achieve greatness if we are willing to work hard, stay focused, and never stop learning.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes by Bruce Lee. For popular citation styles (APA, Chicago, MLA), go to citation page.
