Gichin Funakoshi Quotes and Sayings - Page 1

“You must ignore the bad and adopt the good.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

“What you have been taught by listening to others' words you will forget very quickly; what you have learned with your whole body you will remember for the rest of your life.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Listening #Body #Taught

“When there are no avenues of escape or one is caught even before any attempt to escape can be made, then for the first time the use of self-defense techniques should be considered. Even at times like these, do not show any intention of attacking, but first let the attacker become careless. At that time attack him concentrating one's whole strength in one blow to a vital point and in the moment of surprise, escape and seek shelter and help.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Blow #Self #Defense

“Try to do exactly as you are taught without complaining or quibbling.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Trying #Complaining #Taught

“Think of everyday life as karate training.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Thinking #Everyday #Training

“Once a kata has been learned, it must be practised repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a kata in karate is useless.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Useless #Emergencies #Karate

“Beginners must master low stance and posture, natural body positions are for the advanced.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Beginners #Body #Natural

“Karate is like boiling water: without heat, it returns to it's tepid state”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Water #Return #Heat

“One whose spirit and mental strength have been strengthened by sparring with a never-say-die attitude should find no challenge too great to handle. One who has undergone long years of physical pain and mental agony to learn one punch, one kick, should be able to face any task, no matter how difficult, and carry it through to the end. A person like this can truly be said to have learned karate.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Pain #Attitude #Years

“Remember that you must always have a deep regard for courtesy, and you must be respectful and obedient toward your seniors.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Senior #Remember #Courtesy

“Spirit first, technique second.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Technique #Firsts

“Karate is like boiling water, if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Water #Boiling Water #Heat

“In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know three, or at most five, kata.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Past #Years #Skills

“Karate-do strives internally to train the mind to develop a clear conscience, enabling one to face the world honestly, while externally developing strength to the point where one may overcome even ferocious wild animals. Mind and technique become one in true karate.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Animal #Mind #World

“To practice kata is not to memorize an order. Find the katas that work for you, understand them, digest them & stick with them for life.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Order #Practice

“There is no first strike in Karate.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Firsts #Karate #Strikes

“Any man will be able, after sufficient practice, to accomplish remarkable feats of strength, but he may go only so far and no farther. There is a limit to human physical strength that no one can exceed.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Men #Practice #May

“One of the most striking features of karate is that it may be engaged in by anybody, young or old, strong or weak, male or female.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Strong #May #Males

“Karate begins and ends with courtesy.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Karate #Courtesy #Ends

“No matter how you may excel in the art of Karate, and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and your humanity as observed in daily life.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Humanity #Important

“Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Karate #Ends

“Since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Practice #Karate

“A student well versed in even one technique will naturally see corresponding points in other techniques. A upper level punch, a lower punch, a front punch and a reverse punch are all essentially the same. Looking over thirty-odd kata, he should be able to see that they are essentially variations on just a handful.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Technique #Variation #Levels

“You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Moving #Heart #Hands

“It is important that karate can be practiced by the young and old, men and women alike. That is, since there is no need for a special training place, equipment, or an opponent, a flexibility in training is provided such that the physically and spiritually weak individual can develop his body and mind so gradually and naturally that he himself may not even realize his own great progress.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Men #Training #Mind

“The correct understanding of Karate and its proper use is Karate-do. One who truly trains in this do [way] and actually understands Karate-do is never easily drawn into a fight.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Fighting #Understanding #Way

“The secret principle of martial arts is not vanquishing the attacker, but resolving to avoid an encounter before its occurrence. To become an object of an attack is an indication that there was an opening in one's guard, and the important thing is to be on guard at all times.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Art #Secret #Important

“True karate is this: that in daily life one's mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Humility #Justice #Mind

“Inner mental technique is more important than the physical one.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Important #Technique

“When you look at life think in terms of karate. But remember that karate is not only karate -- it is life.”
-- Gichin Funakoshi

#Thinking #Looks #Remember