* In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

* It is true that the mental aspect of kung-fu is the desired end; however, to achieve this end, technical skill must come first.

* It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

* It's not what you give, it's the way you give it.

* Jeet Kune Do is training and discipline towards the ultimate reality in combat.
Jeet Kune-Do is the only non-classical style of Chinese Kung Fu in existence today. It is simple in its execution, although not so simple to explain. Jeet means "to stop, to stem, to intercept," while Kune means "fist" or "style," and Do means "the way" or "the ultimate reality." In other words — "The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

* Jeet Kune Do, It's just a name, don't fuss over it. There's no such thing as a style if you understand the roots of combat.

* Jeet Kune Do uses no way as way. The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.

* Knowing is not enough, you must apply; willing is not enough, you must do.

* Knowledge in martial arts actually means self-knowledge. A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing. The understanding of JKD is through personal feeling from movement to movement in the mirror of the relationship and not through a process of isolation. To be is to be related. To isolate is death. To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do.

* Knowledge will give you power, but character, respect.

* Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle. In short, enter a mold without being caged in it. Obey the principle without being bound by it. LEARN, MASTER AND ACHIEVE!!!
o Variant: Obey the principles without being bound by them.

* Let the spirit out — Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.

* 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.

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

Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu, to master it, one must enter into the spirit of it.
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Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu, to master it, one must enter into the spirit of it.

* Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu, to master it, one must enter into the spirit of it.

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

* Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.

* Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

* Out of chaos, find simplicity, From discord, find harmony.

* Practice all movements slow and fast, soft and hard; the effectiveness of Jeet Kune-Do depends on split-second timing and reflexive action, which can be achieved only through repetitious practice.

* Put every great teacher together in a room, and they'd agree about everything; put their disciples in there and they'd argue about everything.
o Variant: Put every great teacher in a room, and they'd agree about everything, but put their disciples in there and they'd argue about everything.

* Real living is living for others.

* Showing off is the fool's idea of glory.

* Simplicity is the key to brilliance.

* Styles tend to not only separate men — because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth.

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

* Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.

* The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.

* The combatant should be alive in sparring, throwing punches and kicks from all angles, and should not be a co-operative robot. Like water, sparring should be formless. Pour water into a cup, it becomes part of the cup. Pour it into a bottle; it becomes part of the bottle. Try to kick or punch it, it is resilient; clutch it and it will yield without hesitation. In fact, it will escape as pressure is being applied to it. How true it is that nothingness cannot be confined. The softest thing cannot be snapped.

* The first rule is to keep yourself well covered at all times and never leave yourself open while sparring around the bag. By all means use your footwork — side stepping, feinting, varying your kicks and blows to the bag. Do not shove or flick at it. Explode through it and remember that the power of the kick and punch comes from the correct contact at the right spot and at the right moment with the body in perfect position; not, as many people think, from the vigor with which the kicks or blows are delivered.

* The future looks extremely bright indeed, with lots of possibilities ahead — big possibilities. Like the song says, "We've just begun."

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

* The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation.

* The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement.
A good JKD man does not oppose force or give way completely. He is pliable as a spring; he is the complement and not the opposition to his opponent’s strength. He has no technique; he makes his opponent's technique his technique. He has no design; he makes opportunity his design.
One should not respond to circumstance with artificial and "wooden" prearrangement. Your action should be like the immediacy of a shadow adapting to its moving object. Your task is simply to complete the other half of the oneness spontaneously.

* The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

* The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.

* The main characteristic JKD is the absence of the usual classical passive blocking. Blocking is the least efficient. Jeet Kune-Do is offensive; it's alive and it's free.
* The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flowers or weeds, will grow.