35 Best Miyamoto Musashi Quotes To Inspire You

The Japanese rōnin, philosopher, writer, and fighter Miyamoto Musashi also had other interests. His 61 duels (the next highest is 33 by Itō Ittōsai) and his exceptional and distinctive double-bladed swordsmanship brought him fame, as he was commonly referred to as Musashi. He established the Niten-Ichi-Ryū-School, also known as Nito-Ichi-ryū, and wrote two books in his twilight years: The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書 Go Rin No Sho) and Dokkōdō (The Path of Aloneness).

Terao Magonojō, the most significant disciple of Musashi, was presented with both manuscripts seven days before Musashi’s demise. I hope these quotations from Miyamoto Musashi encourage you to be disciplined so that you can achieve your goals in life.

Motivational Miyamoto Musashi Quotes

• Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
• Do not fear death.
• Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
• Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
• You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor.
• Never stray from the Way.
• “If you do not look at things on a large scale, it will be difficult to master strategy.”
• “No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible.”
• “It is said the warrior’s is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way.”
• “Do not let the body be dragged along by mind nor the mind be dragged along by the body.”
• One must make the warrior walk his everyday walk.”
• “Approach the enemy with the attitude of defeating him without delay.”
• Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”
• “Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the ways of different arts one by one.”
• “Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.”
• “You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.”
• “In all forms of strategy, it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in everyday life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance.”
• “When the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without the chance of letting go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies collapse, they may recover.”
• “Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.”
• “If you learn indoor techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters.”
• “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.”
• “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.”
• “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.”
• “If you want to learn the craft of war, ponder over this book. The teacher is as a needle, the disciple is as thread. You must practice constantly.”
• “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.”
• “Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.”
• “When you have attained the way of strategy there will be nothing that you cannot understand. You will see the way in everything.”
• “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?”
• “In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness.”
• “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…”
• “When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy.”
• “All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this.”
• “If there is a Way involving the spirit of not being defeated, to help oneself and gain honour, it is the Way of Strategy.”
• “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.”
• Whatever your determination or will power, it is foolish to try to change the nature of things. Things work the way they do because that is the way of things.