Top 55 Yamamoto Tsunetomo Quotes
#2. Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#3. A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#4. There is not a man who does not get senile by the time he reaches sixty. And when one thinks that he will not be senile, he is already so.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#6. Light matters should be dealt with seriously. Serious matters should be dealt with lightly.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#7. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#8. If one thinks only of winning, a sordid victory will be worse than a defeat. For the most part, it becomes a squalid defeat.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#9. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#10. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day one should meditate on being carried away by surging waves, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#11. By inconsistency and frivolity we stray from the Way and show ourselves to be beginners. In this we do much harm.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#12. By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man?
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#13. By being impatient, matters are damaged and great works cannot be done
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#14. There are few people who will make mistakes with fire after having once been burned.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#15. If you are slain in battle, you should be resolved to have your corpse facing the enemy.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#17. The heart of a virtuous person has settled down and he does not rush about at things. A person of little merit is not at peace but walks about making trouble and is in conflict with all.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#18. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#19. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#20. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#21. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#22. When confronted with two alternatives, life and death, one is to choose death without hesitation.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#25. To desire with one's very soul every second of every day to accomplish one's aim.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#26. As long as people overlook matters, then inferiors can, without any fear, lead an easy and peaceful life.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#27. When meeting difficult situations, one should dash forward bravely and with joy.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#28. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#29. Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#30. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#31. The saying 'the arts aid the body' is for samurai of other regions. For samurai of the Nabeshima clan the arts bring ruin to the body.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#32. The basic meaning of etiquette is to be quick at both the beginning and end and tranquil in the middle.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#33. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#34. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#35. You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#36. An affected laugh shows lack of self-respect in a man and lewdness in a woman. It is carelessness to go about with one's hands inside the slits in the sides of his hakama.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#37. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#38. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#39. Go ahead and gamble a lie. A person who will not tell you seven lies within a hundred yards is useless as a man.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#40. It is said that one should not hesitate to correct himself when he has made a mistake. If he corrects himself without the least bit of delay, his mistakes will disappear.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#41. A person who is discreet in speaking will be useful during the good times and will avoid punishment during the bad.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#42. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#43. Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#44. Every day without fail one should consider himself as dead. There is a saying of the elders that goes, 'Step from under the eaves and you're a dead man. Leave the gate and the enemy is waiting.' This is not a matter of being careful. It is to consider oneself as dead beforehand.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#45. Death seems to be a long way off. Is this not shallow thinking? It is worthless and is only a joke within a dream. It will not do to think in such a way and be negligent. Insofar as death is always at one's door, one should make sufficient effort and act quickly.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#46. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#47. It is a principle of the art of war that one should simply lay down his life and strike. If one's opponent also does the same, it is a even match. Defeating one's opponent is then a matter of faith and destiny.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#48. When delivering something like an important letter or other written materials, grasp it firmly in your hand as you go and do not release it once, but hand it over directly to the recipient.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#49. A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#50. The person who practices an art is an artist, not a samurai, and one should have the intention of being called a samurai.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#52. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#53. I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#54. 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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
#55. As everything in this world is but a sham. Death is the only sincerity.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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