50 Miyamoto Musashi Quotes on Life, Success and Perspective

Miyamoto Musashi quote

Miyamoto Musashi is known as one of Japan’s most legendary swordsmen and unintentional philosophers. Born in the late 16th century, Musashi's life was marked by a relentless and unwavering pursuit of perfection in the art of swordsmanship. As he grew stronger in his training, he learned the importance of knowledge outside of combat. While strategy on the battlefield was crucial for survival, so was a thorough understanding of the world and other subjects outside of physical strength. It's no wonder there are so many Miyamoto Musashi quotes to inspire or challenge us today.

He was a Ronin, or a masterless samurai, meaning he didn’t have the governance of noble sponsorship. This title, typically given to those who lost this sponsorship through death or wrongdoing, was used predominantly from 1185 to 1868.

During his journey toward enlightenment, he wrote several texts, including his most famous, A Book of Five Rings. Musashi’s message in this notable work focuses on strategy, explaining the value of being adaptable and open-minded during change or obstacles in life. His writings also focused on conflict, discipline and personal growth.

Since this wisdom transcends time and culture, we use many principles he identified in modern schools of thought. This list highlights some of Musashi’s most inspirational quotes that still resonate with people today, although we live thousands of years after he wrote them.

Take a few moments to read through these tidbits of knowledge to understand Miyamoto Musashi's legacy on the world and find useful information to think about in your own life.

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50 Miyamoto Musashi Quotes

1. “If you wish to control others you must first control yourself.”

2. “You can only fight the way you practice.”

3. “Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.”

4. “Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.”

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5. “Immature strategy is the cause of grief.”

6. “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.”

7. “Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is. And you must bend to its power or live a lie.”

8. “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.”

9. “It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war.”

10. “I dreamt of worldly success once.”

11. "Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken. Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit.”

12. “Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.”

13. “A man cannot understand the art he is studying if he only looks for the end result without taking the time to delve deeply into the reasoning of the study.”

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14. “Do nothing which is of no use.”

15. “A bullet from a gun does not make a distinction between practice and combat. You are training to be one and the same way in your life.”

16. “Nobody is strong and nobody is weak if he conceives of the body, from the head to the sole of the foot, as a unity in which a living mind circulates everywhere equally."

17. “There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”

18. “Though you give up your life, do not give up your honor.”

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19. “There is even rhythm in being empty.”

20. “The fact of the matter is that the world does not care about you or me, our hopes, our desires, or our dreams. And, the world of dreams, hopes, and desires that is constructed between our ears it is not necessarily a reflection of what is actually going on around us.”

21. “Fixation is the way to death, fluidity is the way to life. This is something that should be well understood.”

22. “If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him. More than anything, you must be thinking of carrying your movement through to cutting him.”

23. “The comparison with carpentry is through the connection with houses. The carpenter uses a master plan of the building, and the Way of strategy is similar in this manner of planning.”

24. “It is said that the warrior’s way is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.”

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25. “Strategy is the craft of the warrior.”

26. “There are four Ways in which men pass through life: as gentlemen, farmers, artisans, and merchants.”

27. “To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy.”

28. “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 men in fights, be able to win with your eye, and beat ten men with your spirit. When you have reached this point, will it not mean you are invincible?”

29. “You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain.”

30. “To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead.”

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31. “It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.”

32. “Unless you really understand others, you can hardly attain your own self-understanding. In the practice of every way of life and every kind of work, there is a state of mind called that of the deviant. Even if you strive diligently on your chosen path day after day, if your heart is not in accord with it, then even if you think you are on a good path, from the point of view of the straight and true, this is not a genuine path.”

33. “Do not waste time idling or thinking after you have set your goals.”

34. “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.”

35. “There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice.”

36. “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.”

37. “Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.”

38. “Being like a rock wall" is when a master of martial arts suddenly becomes like a rock wall, inaccessible to anything at all, immovable.”

39. “If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains. You must research this deeply.”

40. “It is wrong to be inflexible.”

41. “Pragmatic thinking is essential.”

42. “Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. As if it were a straight road mapped out on the ground ... These things cannot be explained in detail. From one thing, know ten thousand things. When you attain the Way of strategy there will not be one thing you cannot see. You must study hard.”

43. “When your spirit is not in the least clouded, when the clouds of bewilderment clear away, there is the true void.”

44. “Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.”

45. “Think lightly of yourself, and deeply of the World.”

46. “The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them.”

47. “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”

48. “The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions.”

49. “Under the sword lifted high, There is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, And you have the land of bliss.”

50. “It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet.”

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