The Most Powerful Bruce Lee Quotes
Everybody knows Bruce Lee was more ripped than an ancient papyrus scroll and more chiseled than Mt. Rushmore. He boasted legendary strength and power, with the ability to send men flying with his one-inch punch. Fewer people know that his brain was also a source of incredible power. Bruce Lee was a philosopher, and an avid student, constantly nurturing his mind in the name of personal growth. He wasn't loud, but when he spoke, you could count on his words having real weight. There are entire books filled with his quotes, and whether or not you've heard them before, they are guaranteed to provoke thought and motivate you.
Here's perhaps the most famous Lee quote of all time (via Medium):
"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. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and 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."
This quote itself is formless, able to be applied to many situations. It could apply to martial arts or any other skill or discipline you are pursuing, or it could be expanded to inform how you treat each person and event you encounter: bend, don't break. Don't fight what you can't control, but adapt to it. Don't get hung up on an irrelevant idea as reality blurs past. Water has no set form, so it's always ready for anything. Water doesn't get "attached," and it doesn't tense up, it just takes what comes. Delicate dives are met with easy access into the water, but bellyflops? Prepare to get slapped.
How to live more like Bruce Lee
From Sources of Insight, here are some more:
"Don't fear failure. Not failure, but low aim is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."
Bruce Lee set incredibly lofty goals. He put it in writing that he would have $10 million and be an international film star by age 30. Spoiler alert: he did it. If there's something you want to do, you can't afford to waste energy on doubt — it would be like Evel Knievel trying to jump the Grand Canyon with his foot on the brakes. Don't let fear guide your decisions, and once they've been made, commit wholeheartedly to them. Even if you don't reach your goal, you'll be stronger and wiser.
Here's a quote from another GOAT– Michael Jordan– to back up what Lee is saying:
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
There are hundreds more powerful quotes from Bruce Lee, but here's one more to chew on:
"Balance your thoughts with action. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."
So, if you don't know what to do in life, you just need to do something. That will clear the way. And once you've inevitably gone down the Bruce Lee quote rabbit hole, come back to this one and remember — you can think yourself to death. At some point you need to lace up your boots and get to it, fearlessly.