87 Best Bruce Lee Quotes of All Time to Trigger Personal Growth

Almost half a century has passed after Bruce Lee’s death, but his words still inspired people how they should live their lives. He left a legacy that continues to influence people, not only through his films but also with the books he wrote. Here are some of the Bruce Lee philosophy quotes for those looking for advice.

Early Life

Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong American actor, director, philosopher, martial artist, and martial arts instructor. He was born in Chinatown, San Francisco, and his family returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old. Lee was born in the year and the hour of Dragon, which is a strong omen according to tradition.

His father was a well-known Cantonese opera star, which helped Lee appear in films at a young age. He worked in numerous films as a child actor. According to Lee, mistakes are always forgivable, and he spread the message of love.

Introduction to Martial Arts

Bruce Lee used to get involved in a number of street fights, because of which his parents decided to train him in martial arts. You can also learn some martial arts from Bruce Lee be like water quotes. He started training martial arts at the age of 16 and took classes in different forms.

In 1958, he won the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament and knocked out the previous champion in the final. In the same year, he also won Hong Kong’s Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship as a cha-cha dancer.

Acting Career

Bruce Lee’s street fights made his father sent him to the United States for a safer future. He was 18 when he moved to the United States and enrolled in the University of Washington in Seattle, for higher education. It is the time when he started teaching martial arts to others.

He was a pro at leg movement, and Bruce Lee’s 10000 kicks quotes are inspired by his speed. Lee acted in a number of films and became an iconic figure throughout the world because of portraying Chinese nationalism in his movies. He also became famous among Asian Americans for defying the stereotypes associated with Asian males.

Bruce Lee’s Death

Bruce Lee died at the age of 32 and his autopsy reports show that his brain was swollen considerably. Since his death, Lee has been a prominent influence on combat sports, including mixed martial arts, judo, boxing, and karate. Time magazine mentioned Bruce Lee as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.

Most Inspiring Bruce Lee Quotes To Help You In Life

Bruce Lee left a significant impact on the world in a short life span with the life-changing wisdom he shared. We are sharing his wisdom with you with these Bruce Lee inspirational quotes. Our collection of Bruce Lee’s sayings has been compiled from his books, movies, and martial art lessons.

20 Inspirational Quotes from Bruce Lee’s Martial Arts Movie

1. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. – Bruce Lee

2. I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine. – Bruce Lee

3. Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. – Bruce Lee

4. A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. – Bruce Lee

5. Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own. – Bruce Lee

6. Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them. – Bruce Lee

7. To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities. – Bruce Lee

8. I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. – Bruce Lee

9. Real living is living for others. – Bruce Lee

10. The more we value things, the less we value ourselves. – Bruce Lee

11. If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of. – Bruce Lee

12. Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory. – Bruce Lee

13. Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can. – Bruce Lee

14. ‎The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee

15. Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do. – Bruce Lee

16. In the middle of chaos lies opportunity. – Bruce Lee

17. For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime. – Bruce Lee

18. Be happy, but never satisfied. – Bruce Lee

19. Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality, and duplicate it. – Bruce Lee

20. The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering. – Bruce Lee

    15 Life-Changing Bruce Lee Quotes of All Time

21. “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

22. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee

23. “Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee

24. “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.” – Bruce Lee

25. 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. – Bruce Lee

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

27. “Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.” – Bruce Lee

28. “Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.” – Bruce Lee

29. “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee

30. “The possession of anything begins in the mind.” – Bruce Lee

31. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” – Bruce Lee

32. “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” – Bruce Lee

33. “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

34. “If there is a God, he is within. You don’t ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.” – Bruce Lee

35. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” – Bruce Lee

    25 Most Famous Bruce Lee Quotes and Sayings

36. “If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.” – Bruce Lee

37. “A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence.” – Bruce Lee

38. “Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.” – Bruce Lee

39. “Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.” – Bruce Lee

40. ”Obey the principles without being bound by them.” – Bruce Lee

41. ”It’s not what you give, it’s the way you give it.“ – Bruce Lee

42. “A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.” – Bruce Lee

43. “Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. To realize that it’s just an inconvenience, that it is not a catastrophe, but just an unpleasantness, is part of coming into your own, part of waking up.” – Bruce Lee

44. “For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.” – Bruce Lee

45. “Take no thought of who is right or wrong, or who is better than. Be not for or against.” – Bruce Lee

46. “To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever.” – Bruce Lee

47. “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.” – Bruce Lee

48. “Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, un-rhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.” – Bruce Lee

49. “Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.” – Bruce Lee

50. “The doubters said, ‘Man can not fly,’ The doers said, ‘Maybe, but we’ll try,’ And finally soared In the morning glow While non-believers Watched from below.” – Bruce Lee

51. “Reality is apparent when one ceases to compare. There is “what is” only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with what is, is to be peaceful.” – Bruce Lee

52. “Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.” – Bruce Lee

53. “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” – Bruce Lee

54. “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” – Bruce Lee

55. “Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.” – Bruce Lee

56. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” – Bruce Lee

57. “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

58. “Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.” – Bruce Lee

59. “Boards don’t hit back.” – Bruce Lee

60. “The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.” – Bruce Lee

    25 Inspirational Bruce Lee Quotes For Wisdom And Success

61. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one” – Bruce Lee

62. “Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee

63. “As you think, so shall you become.” – Bruce Lee

64. “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” – Bruce Lee

65. “Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student.”

66. “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee

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

68. “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee

69. “Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality.” – Bruce Lee

70. “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” – Bruce Lee

71. “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” – Bruce Lee

72. “Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality-in your own mind.” – Bruce Lee

73. “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” – Bruce Lee

74. “Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.” – Bruce Lee

75. “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” – Bruce Lee

76. “Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.” – Bruce Lee

77. “In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.” – Bruce Lee

78. “Knowledge earns you power, the character earns you respect.” – Bruce Lee

79. “‎The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

80. “It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” – Bruce Lee

    7 Bruce Lee Quotes on Success That Will Really Inspire You

81. “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.” – Bruce Lee“

82. “Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today.” – Bruce Lee

83. “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” – Bruce Lee

84. “A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.” – Bruce Lee

85. “Real living is living for others.” – Bruce Lee

86. “If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.” – Bruce Lee

87. “Be happy, but never satisfied.” – Bruce Lee

Conclusion

Bruce Lee is the most popular martial arts movie star of all time. Apart from being a movie star, only a few people know that he was an author, a poet, a philosopher, and a teacher of Martial Arts. Bruce Lee’s famous quotes about life teach us to live a meaningful life. He introduced the world to martial arts, and his movies played the role of a bridge between the East and the West.

Which of our Bruce Lee motivational quotes resonate with you the most? Share your thoughts in the comment section below; we would love to hear from you.

Bruce Lee Quote About Principles