4 Bruce Lee Quotes to Awaken Your Inner Warrior
Many Bruce Lee quotes have inspired millions of people around the world. Throughout his life, Bruce Lee wrote down his thoughts and ideas on how to live life to the fullest, as well as his insights on martial arts. After his death, many books collected his philosophical thoughts and the inspiring way in which he lived.
From a young age, Bruce Lee wanted to live a better life. The countless hours he spent reading books, especially books on self-help, philosophy, and martial arts, prove this.
Bruce Lee soaked up everything he read and applied it to his life. Therefore, martial arts were his way of doing just that. Additionally, for Bruce Lee, martial arts were a means of self-discovery and self-expression.
Thanks to martial arts, he managed to understand who he was. Likewise, martial arts helped him leave his comfort zone, test his limits, and face his fears. Practicing martial arts was his way of confronting his inner demons, expanding his understanding of himself, and expressing his essence.
Through his books, films, and interviews, Bruce Lee tried to convey the wisdom he gathered over his years of study and practice. In this article, we leave you with a small selection of Bruce Lee quotes to awaken your inner warrior.
Simplify: Leave aside the nonessential
“It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential.”
Many of us have invested time in meaningless things. For example, we work jobs we don’t like, buy things we don’t need, or spend time with people we don’t like.
According to Bruce Lee, simplicity is the key to satisfaction and self-development. By learning to simplify, we can set aside whatever doesn’t add to our personal growth and focus on what we want to do. Thus, we empty our mind of obstacles that keep us from paying attention to our real needs.
Flow and adapt to what may come
“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle 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.”
Life is constant change. That’s why, unless we learn to adapt to it, we’ll experience great resistance. Consequently, this will trap us in a constant state of suffering.
Water is strong since you can’t break it. It’s stronger than anything else in existence due to its ability to elude, adapt, and move with the nature of all things. Thus, it conquers everything without a fight. We can learn to overcome any obstacle we face by doing as water does. Not by fighting it but by embracing it, moving with it, and adapting to it.
Be yourself
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”
Every person is a unique individual. However, most people try to become someone they’re not. They don’t realize that they’re ruining their lives by doing so.
We should keep this Bruce Lee quote in mind. Self-discovery and personal growth consist of following your inner voice and expressing it honestly. “No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness,” he used to say.
Keep learning: You’re constantly evolving
“There is no such thing as maturity. There is instead an ever-evolving process of maturing. Because when there is a maturity, there is a conclusion and a cessation. That’s the end. That’s when the coffin is closed. You might be deteriorating physically in the long process of aging, but your personal process of daily discovery is ongoing. You continue to learn more and more about yourself every day.”
For Bruce Lee, life was an ongoing journey to wisdom. Our everyday experiences help us understand who we are. That’s how we mature as individuals.
Wisdom is a never-ending process. The older we get, the more we develop our understanding. Those who stop evolving don’t really live.
We hope you enjoyed this small selection of Bruce Lee quotes!