"The spirit of the individual is determined by his dominating thought habits."

“The aphorism "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he" contains the secret of life.”

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

“Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”

“Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.”

“When you're talking about fighting, as it is, with no rules, well then, baby you'd better train every part of your body!”

“The Three Stages of Cultivation — The first is the primitive stage. It is a stage of original ignorance in which a person knows nothing about the art of combat. In a fight, he simply blocks and strikes instinctively without a concern for what is right and wrong. Of course, he may not be so-called scientific, but, nevertheless, being himself, his attacks or defenses are fluid. The second stage — the stage of sophistication, or mechanical stage — begins when a person starts his training. He is taught the different ways of blocking, striking, kicking, standing, breathing, and thinking — unquestionably, he has gained the scientific knowledge of combat, but unfortunately his original self and sense of freedom are lost, and his action no longer flows by itself. His mind tends to freeze at different movements for calculations and analysis, and even worse, he might be called “intellectually bound” and maintain himself outside of the actual reality. The third stage — the stage of artlessness, or spontaneous stage — occurs when, after years of serious and hard practice, the student realizes that after all, gung fu is nothing special. And instead of trying to impose on his mind, he adjusts himself to his opponent like water pressing on an earthen wall. It flows through the slightest crack. There is nothing to try to do but try to be purposeless and formless, like water. All of his classical techniques and standard styles are minimized, if not wiped out, and nothingness prevails. He is no longer confined.”