By Miyamoto Musashi, a luminary of both swordsmanship and philosophy, emerged from the humble confines of a modest Japanese town. Despite being born into a farmer’s family, his prowess with the sword was nothing short of extraordinary. Yet, the ancestral lineage and birth records of Miyamoto Musashi Quotes have ignited a multitude of theories, casting a shroud of uncertainty over his early life due to conflicting tombstones, birth dates, and divorce records.
While the enigma surrounding Musashi’s origins persists, glimpses of his identity and background can be gleaned from his seminal work, ‘The Book of Five Rings’ (Go Rin no Sho). This opus, primarily about martial arts, also imparts insights into Musashi. His school, Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu, harnesses the wisdom of this text to impart both philosophical principles and technical prowess. Musashi’s concepts hold immeasurable value even for those not engaged in sword-centric martial arts.
Born in Shinmen Takezo of the Harima Province in Japan, he entered the world under Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami Fujiwara no Genshin. Musashi’s father, Shinmen Munisai, a skilled practitioner of ninjutsu and jujutsu, nurtured Musashi’s interest in these combat styles.
Tragedy struck early with the demise of his mother shortly after his birth, leaving him under the care of his stepmother, Toshiko. Following his father’s subsequent divorce from her, Musashi found himself within the confines of the Shoreian monastery, entrusted to the guardianship of his uncle Dorin, a resident monk. During his sojourn there, Musashi imbibed the teachings of Zen Buddhism and received a rudimentary education.
For insights, here’s a compilation of quotes attributed to Miyamoto Musashi.
Quotes Musashi Miyamoto
1. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
2. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
3. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
Miyamoto Musashi
5. To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead.
Miyamoto Musashi
6. Anger. Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you. Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated.
Miyamoto Musashi
7. The purpose of today’s training is to defeat yesterday’s understanding.
Miyamoto Musashi
8. It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.
Miyamoto Musashi
9. The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win.
Miyamoto Musashi
10. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
Miyamoto Musashi
11. Determine that today you will overcome yourself of the day before, tomorrow you will win over those of lesser skill, and later you will win over those of greater skill.
Miyamoto Musashi
12. Fixation is the way to death. Fluidity is the way to life.
Miyamoto Musashi
13. In time, all things work to your advantage when you pursue them with an open heart.
Miyamoto Musashi
14. No Fear, No Hesitation, No Surprise, No Doubt.
Miyamoto Musashi
15. If you wish to control others you must first control yourself.
Miyamoto Musashi
16. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
Miyamoto Musashi
17. Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.
Miyamoto Musashi
18. With your spirit open and unconstricted, look at things from a high point of view.
Miyamoto Musashi
19. Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye.
Miyamoto Musashi
20. If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.
Miyamoto Musashi
21. Do not waste time idling or thinking after you have set your goals.
Miyamoto Musashi
22. To know ten thousand things, know one well.
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi Quotes
23. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
24. You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain.
Miyamoto Musashi
25. Do nothing that is of no use.
Miyamoto Musashi
26. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
Miyamoto Musashi
27. There is no one way to salvation, whatever the manner in which a man may proceed. All forms and variations are governed by the eternal intelligence of the Universe that enables a man to approach perfection. It may be in the arts of music and painting or it may be in commerce, law, or medicine. It may be in the study of war or the study of peace. Each is as important as any other. Spiritual enlightenment through religious meditation such as Zen or in any other way is as viable and functional as any ‘Way’… A person should study as they see fit.
Miyamoto Musashi
28. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.
Miyamoto Musashi
29. The path that leads to truth is littered with the bodies of the ignorant.
Miyamoto Musashi
30. All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.
Miyamoto Musashi
31. Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.
Miyamoto Musashi
32. Do not regret what you have done.
Miyamoto Musashi
31. Understand the harm and benefit of everything.
Miyamoto Musashi
32. If there isn’t discipline, how can there be a true realization of an ideal?
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi Quotes on Life
33. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
34. You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain.
Miyamoto Musashi
35. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
36. The purpose of today’s training is to defeat yesterday’s understanding.
Miyamoto Musashi
37. Anger. Control your anger. If you hold anger toward others, they have control over you. Your opponent can dominate and defeat you if you allow him to get you irritated.
Miyamoto Musashi
38. No Fear, No Hesitation, No Surprise, No Doubt.
Miyamoto Musashi
39. Determine that today you will overcome your self of the day before, tomorrow you will win over those of lesser skill, and later you will win over those of greater skill.
Miyamoto Musashi
40. In time, all things work to your advantage when you pursue them with an open heart.
Miyamoto Musashi
41. All man are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.
Miyamoto Musashi
42. Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi Quotes on Love
43. Get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of Man.
Miyamoto Musashi
44. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
Miyamoto Musashi
45. If you are not progressing along the true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be pondered well.
Miyamoto Musashi
46. The essential is to think that anything you are doing has to become the occasion for slashing. You must examine this well.
Miyamoto Musashi
47. It is said the warrior is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways.
Miyamoto Musashi
48. If there isn’t discipline, how can there be a true realization of an ideal?
Miyamoto Musashi
49. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
50. Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.
Miyamoto Musashi
51. One thousand days of lessons for discipline; ten thousand days of lessons for mastery.
Miyamoto Musashi
52. This Fudo Myo-o, whose name means “Immovable Wisdom King,” is represented with a sword to cut through our ignorance and a rope to bind up our emotions.
Miyamoto Musashi
53. From one thing, know ten thousand things.
Miyamoto Musashi
54. In battle, if you make your opponent flinch, you have already won.
Miyamoto Musashi
55. You can only fight the way you practice.
Miyamoto Musashi
56. Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior.
Miyamoto Musashi
57. There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas.
Miyamoto Musashi
58. When you attack the enemy, your spirit must go to the extent of pulling the stakes out of a wall and using them as spears and halberds.
Miyamoto Musashi
59. It is bad to repeat the same thing several times when fighting the enemy.
Miyamoto Musashi
Self Improvement Miyamoto Musashi Quotes
60. Develop intuitive judgement and understanding for everything.
Miyamoto Musashi
61. Polish your wisdom: learn public justice, distinguish between good and evil, study the ways of different arts one by one.
Miyamoto Musashi
62. Do not act following customary beliefs.
Miyamoto Musashi
63. To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy.
Miyamoto Musashi
64. Be detached from your desire your whole lifelong.
Miyamoto Musashi
65. When your opponent is hurrying recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced by the opponent.
Miyamoto Musashi
66. Respect Buddha and the Gods without counting on their help.
Miyamoto Musashi
67. You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.
Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi Best Quotes
68. You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.
Miyamoto Musashi
69. The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them.
Miyamoto Musashi
70. A warrior has no confusion in his mind… This is true emptiness.
Miyamoto Musashi
71. Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior.
Miyamoto Musashi
72. The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.
Miyamoto Musashi
73. In fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm.
Miyamoto Musashi
74. One thousand days of lessons for discipline; ten thousand days of lessons for mastery.
Miyamoto Musashi
75. True warriors are fierce because their training is fierce.
Miyamoto Musashi
76. 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.
Miyamoto Musashi
77. One must make the warrior walk his everyday walk.
Miyamoto Musashi
78. The principle is ‘strategy by means of the long sword’. If he attains the virtue of the long sword, one man can beat ten men.
Miyamoto Musashi
79. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
Miyamoto Musashi
80. It is said the warrior’s is the twofold Way of pen and sword… Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way.
Miyamoto Musashi
81. When the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without letting the chance go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies’ collapse, they may recover.
Miyamoto Musashi
82. If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you.
Miyamoto Musashi
83. To become the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of the enemy.
Miyamoto Musashi
84. You win battles by knowing the enemy’s timing, and using a timing which the enemy does not expect.
Miyamoto Musashi
85. Many things can cause a loss of balance. One cause is danger, another is hardship, and another is surprise.
Miyamoto Musashi
86. The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy’s useful actions but allow his useless actions.
Miyamoto Musashi
87. Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.
Miyamoto Musashi
88. In large-scale strategy, it is beneficial to strike at the corners of the enemy’s force. If the corners are overthrown, the spirit of the whole body will be overthrown.
Miyamoto Musashi
89. If the enemy thinks of the mountains, attack like the sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack like the mountains.
Miyamoto Musashi
90. Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.
Miyamoto Musashi
Was Miyamoto Musashi’s quote a source of inspiration for you? Which among them struck the deepest chord within you? You may have stumbled upon fresh viewpoints regarding strategy, martial arts, or the very essence of existence, which hadn’t graced your mind prior. Alternatively, you may be determined to infuse his teachings into your pursuits and confrontations.
Irrespective of the pearls of wisdom you’ve gathered, I invite you to pause and ponder upon them, sharing your ruminations in the comments section below.
