Yamamoto Tsunetomo
It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.Collection: Dream
A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.Collection: Dog
By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man?Collection: War
There is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished.Collection: War
In the eyes of mercy, no one should have hateful thoughts. Feel pity for the man who is even more at fault. The area and size of mercy is limitless.Collection: War
It is better not to become acquainted with men about whom you have formerly had doubts. No matter what you do, they will be people by whom you will be tripped up or taken in.Collection: War
Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.Collection: War
This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.Collection: Morning
Calculating people are contemptable. The reason for this is that calculation deals with loss and gain, and the loss and gain mind never stops. Death is considered loss and life is considered gain. Thus, death is something that such a person does not care for, and he is contemptable. Furthermore, scholars and their like are men who with wit and speech hide their own true cowardice and greed. People often misjudge this.Collection: Truth
Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it was somewhere else. No one seems to have noticed this fact. But grasping this firmly, one must pile experience upon experience. And once one has come to this understanding he will be a different person from that point on, though he may not always bare it in mind. When one understands this settling into single-mindedness well, his affairs will thin out.Collection: Life
Continue to spur a running horse.Collection: Running
Bushido is realised in the presence of death. In the case of having to choose between life and death you should choose death. There is no other reasoning.Collection: Mean
If one thinks only of winning, a sordid victory will be worse than a defeat. For the most part, it becomes a squalid defeat.Collection: War
Having only wisdom and talent is the lowest tier of usefulness.Collection: Martial Arts
Tether even a roasted chicken.Collection: Chickens
Singlemindedness is all-powerful.Collection: Powerful
One must know the so-called 'lesson of a downpour. A man, caught in a sudden rain en route, dashes along the road not to get wet or drenched. Once one takes it for granted that in rain he naturally gets wet, he can be in a tranquil frame of mind even when soaked to the skin. This lesson applies to everything.Collection: Rain
If a retainer will just think about what he is to do for the day at hand, he will be able to do anything. If it is a single day's work, one should be able to put up with it. Tomorrow, too is but a single day.Collection: Thinking
It is better to have some unhappiness while one is still young, for if a person does not experience some bitterness, his disposition will not settle down.Collection: War
Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery.Collection: War
It is said that what is called "the spirit of an age" is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation.Collection: Years
You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.Collection: Good Life
When someone is giving you his opinion, you should receive it with deep gratitude even though it is worthless. If you don't, he will not tell you the things that he has seen and heard about you again.Collection: Gratitude
Covetousness, anger and foolishness are things to sort out well. When bad things happen in the world, if you look at them comparatively, they are not unrelated to these three things.Collection: War
A warrior should not say something fainthearted, even casually. He should set his mind to this beforehand. Even in trifling matters the depths of one's heart can be seen.Collection: War
By inconsistency and frivolity we stray from the Way and show ourselves to be beginners. In this we do much harm.Collection: War
If one is but secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation. But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one's way of doing things are found in trivial matters.Collection: Expectations
Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.Collection: Matter
It is difficult for a fool's habits to change to selflessness.Collection: Art
The way of the Samurai is found in death.Collection: Samurai
When one is writing a letter, he should think that the recipient will make it into a hanging scroll.Collection: Writing
Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, "Form is emptiness." That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, "Emptiness is form." One should not think that these are two seperate things.Collection: Thinking
All of man’s work is a bloody business. That fact, today, is considered foolish, affairs are finished cleverly with words alone, and jobs that require effort are avoided. I would like young men to have some understanding of this.Collection: Jobs
Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind... then the Great Way is right before your eyes.Collection: Eye
When something out of the ordinary happens, it is ridiculous to say that it is a mystery or a portent of something to come... the mystery is created in (their) minds, and by waiting for disaster, it is from their very minds that it occurs.Collection: War
What is called generosity is really compassion. In the Shin'ei it is written "Seen from the eye of compassion, there is noone to be disliked. One who has sinned is to be pitied all the more." There is no limit to the breadth and depth of ones heart. There is room enough for all. That we still worship the sages of the three ancient kingdoms is because their compassion reaches us yet today.Collection: Eye
It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all Ways and be more and more in accord with his own.Collection: Two
The person who practices an art is an artist, not a samurai, and one should have the intention of being called a samurai.Collection: Art
Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.Collection: Effort
One should be wary of talking on end about such subjects as learning, morality or folklore in front of elders or people of rank. It is disagreeable to listen to.Collection: War
A person who is discreet in speaking will be useful during the good times and will avoid punishment during the bad.Collection: War
Nothing is impossible in this world. Firm determination, it is said, can move heaven and earth. Things appear far beyond one’s power, because one cannot set his heart on any arduous project due to want of strong will.Collection: Strong