Bruce Lee - Wisdom for the Way

Compiled by Shannon Lee

Edited by Sarah Dzida

Graphic Design by Steve Kirwan

Cover Design by Katherine Delaney

Additional Design by John Bodine

2009 Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC

All Rights Reserved

BRUCE LEE, the Bruce Lee likeness, quotes of Bruce Lee and all related indicia are trademarks and copyrights of Bruce Lee Enterprises LLC. All Rights Reserved.

www.brucelee.com

B ruce Lee ~ Wisdom for the Way is a gift. More than a gift book, it is a gift of inspiration. We sought to bring together a book of some of my father's most inspirational and thought-provoking quotes with some beautiful and evocative images so that as you read, you are also uplifted by a visual element. The imagery consists of Bruce Lee photos, graphic elements, and symbolic pictures that are meant to help express the essence of the words on the page.

My father was constantly writing, whether it was penning letters to friends, pondering his own experiences, or researching and taking in the experience of others. He wrote constantly in journals, in the margins of books, and on paper. Writing really helped him process and understand his thoughts and his daily experience. He was also compelled to share these thoughts with friends, co-workers and anyone with a true interest and desire to have a provocative discussion about life. So we are the beneficiaries of all this, for we have a written legacy that, in my father's tradition, we are able to continue to share.

There are many books composed of my father's written words available for sale these days, but we felt it was important to make an accessible and manageable but also beautifully appointed collection of quotes that anyone can pick up, easily flip through and come away affected by its wisdom and beauty. Unlike some of the others, this book is not focused on one specific topic, and it is not of overwhelming length. It is meant to be simple. I hope you enjoy this book and return to it often. I hope you reflect on the words and the images and are as inspired by them as I am every time! This truly is wisdom for the way.

Shannon Lee

Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapelesslike water.
If you put water into 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.

Using no way
as way;
having no limitation
as limitation.

The original founder of a style
started out with hypothesis.
But now it has become the gospel truth,
and people who go into that
become the product of it.
It doesnt matter how you are,
who you are, how you are structured,
how you are built or how you are made
it doesnt seem to matter.
You just go in there and be that product.
And that, to me, is not right.

All types of knowledge ultimately
means self-knowledge.

Whenever I look around,
I always learn one thing, and that is:
always be yourself
express yourself,
have faith in yourself.
Do not go out and look
for a successful personality
and duplicate him.

To me, ultimately, martial art
means honestly expressing yourself.
Now it is very difficult to do.
It is easy for me
to put on a show and be cocky
and then feel pretty cool.
Or I can do all kinds of phony things.
Or I can show you
some really fancy movement.
But to express oneself honestly,
not lying to oneselfthat, my friend,
is very hard to do.

If I tell you I'm good,
probably you will say
that I'm boasting.
But if I tell you
I'm not good,
youll know I'm lying.

Be pliable.
When a man is living,
he is soft and pliable;
when he is dead,
he becomes rigid.
Pliability is life;
rigidity is death,
whether one speaks of mans
body, mind or his spirit.

Remember,
success is a journey,
not a destination.
Have faith in your ability.
You will do just fine.

You know how I like to think of myself?
As a human being.
Because, under the sky, under the heavens,
there is but one family.
It just so happens people are different.

Willpower:
Recognizing that the power of will
is the supreme court over all other
departments of my mind,
I will exercise daily when
I need the urge to act for any purpose;
and I will form habits designed
to bring the power of my will into action
at least once daily.

You have to create your own luck.
You have to be aware of the opportunities around you
and take advantage of them.

Defeat is a state of mind;
no one is ever defeated until defeat
has been accepted as a reality.
To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary,
and its punishment is but an urge for me
to exert greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me
that something is wrong in my doing;
it is a path leading to success and truth.

Once I slow down
because I think I have reached my peak,
then my skills will go nowhere
but down.

Learning is definitely not mere imitation,