Bruce Lee Quotes To Remember Martial Arts Legend On 44th Death Anniversary

July 20 marks the 44th death anniversary of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Known for his movies such as “Fists of Fury” and “Enter the Dragon,” Lee founded the martial arts form Jeet Kune Do.

Lee was born in San Francisco on Nov. 27, 1940. In the early 1940s, Lee’s family moved to Hong Kong, which was at the time occupied by the Japanese. There, Lee appeared in several movies as a child actor. The family returned to the U.S. in the late 1940s, where Lee graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle.

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In the U.S., he began gaining popularity with the television series “The Green Hornet” that ran from 1966 to 1967. Following this, Lee received widespread acclaim for his movies “Fists of Fury” and “Enter the Dragon.” He was known for mastering several techniques in the martial arts.

He died at the age of 32 in 1973 — a month before the premiere of “Enter the Dragon” — in Hong Kong. The official cause of his death was reported to be brain edema. Autopsy results showed this was caused by a strange reaction to a painkiller he was reportedly taking for a back injury.

Following are some quotes from Lee, gathered from Brainy Quote and BruceLeeQuotes.org.

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”

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

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

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

“To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.”

“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.”

“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.”

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“Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being 'wholly' and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.”

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

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”