Tired of the same old happy life quotes?
Looking for success tips with a twist?
You got it!
Here is the best martial arts wisdom from my articles and the Fight for a Happy Life podcast.
I’m adding more quotes all the time, so check back soon! 🙂
Sensei Ando’s
Happy Life Quotes
From Welcome Video
If you quit, nobody wins. Not you, not your family, not your friends, not the world. It’s only when you’re training to be your best that everybody wins.
From Punching Drill for Better Timing
Never be afraid of success… be afraid of sucking and dying.
From Who Is the Perfect Sparring Partner?
Developing yourself by yourself is a path to confusion and delusion.
The most dangerous mistake nice people make is to keep trying kindness and patience even after those tactics have failed.
Tough love doesn’t mean you don’t love, you just love in a smarter way.
Start low and slow, then see how far you can go.
Nothing reveals the real you more than fighting.
From Spirit First, Technique Second
Doing the right thing is the wrong thing when it’s not the main thing.
You can do something incorrectly and still succeed. You can also do something correctly and still fail.
Doing lots of something is better than doing lots of nothing.
There’s a time to color inside the lines, a time to color outside the lines, and a time to tear up the coloring book and draw your own picture.
From Finish the Fight
One of the worst habits you’ll find in martial arts training is stopping when you’re winning.
From Secret Martial Arts Techniques
A dishonest teacher takes advantage of the fact that many people would prefer to believe in magic and secrets instead of believing in themselves.
Selling secrets is smart. Buying secrets is not.
Experience is the only secret that will transform you from a geek into a god.
In the end, you have to write your own book.
From Are You a Real Fighter or a Studio Fighter?
If you take the fighting out of martial arts, you’re not practicing martial arts! You’re practicing martial arts and crafts.
I win, you lose. I live, you die. If you feel uneasy taking action with that level of conviction, you may never experience total success. Total success requires total commitment.
Listen to what you’re not hearing.
From The Two Biggest Lies in Self-Defense
Any teacher who gives you the idea that fighting for your life is easy is either a liar or an idiot.
When it comes to success, the odds are already stacked against you. If you don’t commit every part of your mind, body, and soul to the fight, then you have no chance at all.
If you have a talent, use it. If you have a strength, employ it. If you have an idea, try it. Never feel guilty for who you are or what you can do.
From How to Take a Punch
You can’t control the fight if you can’t control your mind.
Train yourself to move through the moment, instead of trying to stop it.
From A Ridiculous Reason to Skip Class in Martial Arts
Don’t train to be a monster… train to beat the monster.
The beginner sets goals that are physical, technical, and mechanical. The advanced student sets goals that are mental, emotional, and spiritual.
A beginner buys tools. A master knows how to use them.
The more you learn, the less you learn.
From Can You Use Fancy Moves in a Real Fight?
Any technique can work if you make it work.
You are the art. Your body. Your mind. Your spirit. Your choices.
From Dealing With Death in Martial Arts
To truly master martial arts, you must determine what you will fight for, kill for, and die for.
Dealing with death prepares you to deal with everything.
Any time, any day, any number of ways, I may die and be laid in a tomb. It’s my fate, not God’s hate, or Destiny’s mistake, to return to my heavenly womb.
From Speed Training Will Save Your Life
No matter who you are or how hard you train, when you get pushed to your limits, something will fail. Something will break down. The only question is what will it be? And what are you doing about it?
From The Attitude I Hate Most in Martial Arts
The most powerful attitude for success lies between feeling scared and feeling smug. You should believe you’re capable, but not invincible.
No one should be smug. Not you, not your teacher, not anyone.
From What It Takes To Be a Self-Defense Expert
Train the general first, the soldier second.
Be impressed when someone knows how to prevent trouble instead of just knowing how to deal with it.
From Martial Arts Are For Smart People
In self-defense, if you’re smaller, weaker, and dumber, only luck or divine intervention will save you.
A tiger is scary. A smart tiger is terrifying.
From My Dirty Secret to Make More Practice Time
If you want karate to be with you all the time, you have to practice all the time.
From Two Questions To Be a Martial Arts Master
You are the greatest teacher you will ever know.
Average students train to maintain. Great students train to gain.
If you want to be a master, don’t work out, work on!
The bad news? Learning never ends. The good news? Learning never ends!
In martial arts and life, there is a time to ride the waves and a time to make waves. Knowing the difference separates the beginner from the master.
From How To Insult Someone in Martial Arts
Beginners see what happened. Masters see how it happened.
From Death Grip: Just Let Go… and Win!
The moment you feel yourself stiffen mentally, physically, or spiritually, you’re using a death grip. You’re also about to die.
It’s better to put yourself in a bad position by taking a chance than letting someone else put you in a bad position by doing nothing.
You will never feel more alive than the moment when you let go of who you think you are and find out who you really are.
From Breaking Down in Martial Arts
If you’re not breaking down, you’re not working hard enough!
Failing is still learning if you don’t lie about the why.
From Martial Arts Is NOT Like Riding a Bike
Practice martial arts every day and they are transformed from something you do into something you are.
From How Bad Communication Got Me Punched!
Pretending to be someone else will reveal a part of you that’s real.
We’re always communicating who we are and what we believe in. Not just with our voices, but with our choices.
Speak like you’re throwing a punch–simple, direct, and from the heart.
From Thank You, Pain: Why Injuries Are Good For You
Pain is the quickest, most effective, and most honest teacher I’ve ever met.
Pain is life’s way of pushing you in the right direction.
Pain is good for you. Not the you of today, but the you of tomorrow.Â
There is no up time or down time, there is only time.Â
Just because you can’t do everything, doesn’t mean you can’t do something.Â
From The Soul of Karate
Control is the soul of karate.
It’s only through attaining the power of choice that we can become both creators and destroyers in the world. Warriors and peacemakers.
From The 4 Levels of Knowledge in Martial Arts…and Everything Else
When you create what you want, despite the whole world trying to stop you, you are a god.
Just because you know something doesn’t mean you know something.
Knowledge is the beginning of the learning process, not the end.
Every moment is a class. Every place is a classroom. Every person is a teacher.
From Faith: The Knockout Secret to Success
The only way to trust yourself is to test yourself.
I’d rather throw bad punches than no punches.
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From Self-Defense Story: The Blonde-Haired Warrior
Fact: Men, women, and children defend themselves every day with no training whatsoever.
Don’t let the news fool you. Predators are not all-powerful. And prey aren’t powerless.
It’s not technique that saves lives, it’s spirit. Fighting spirit.
From One Trick Pony: Why Your A-Game Isn’t Good Enough
At some point, you will discover that what got you here isn’t enough to keep you here…or get you where you want to go.
We are all just a bag of tricks stuffed inside a bag of meat.
Don’t overwhelm yourself believing you must become an invincible, omnipotent superman…just aspire to become a smarter, stronger, more effective version of you.
The ability to learn new tricks is the difference between being good and great, smart and wise, a champion and a legend.
From Martial Arts Don’t Lie…Do You?
There is nothing more honest than a punch in the face.
A good martial arts program forces you to see yourself as you really are, not how you want to see yourself.
From Your Greatest Self-Defense Weapon
Let your smile be your shield and your sword.
From Why I Practice Martial Arts and Not Yoga
Being your best self when removed from the world is only a stepping stone to being your best self everywhere and anywhere you go.
Relating to yourself is one thing. Relating to others is something else entirely.
Figuring out how to make peace with someone working against you is the key to building a more peaceful world.
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From Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
Where masters are unpredictable on purpose, beginners are unpredictable by accident.
Beginners think outside the box because they haven’t jumped inside a box yet.
Be careful about only surrounding yourself with so-called experts. It’s the new guy who doesn’t know anything who may actually have the most surprising, radical, breakthrough ideas.
We should regularly make a habit of having no habits.
Each day you have unlimited opportunities to amend or alter your identity.
Life is full of surprises. You should be full of surprises, too.
From Is That the Real You Or Just Window Dressing?
Stop making “to-do” lists and start making “stop-doing” lists.
From Smash Through the Maze Between You and Your Goals
Imagination is a dream-maker and a dream-killer.
The sooner you take action, the sooner you’ll succeed.
When people say they’re not being cynical, just realistic, what they’re really saying is their reality is cynical.
Start before you talk yourself into believing you can’t do it.
No matter what you want in life, take the first step and let fate meet you halfway.
From Sting Like a Bee: Tips for the Little Guy
Lack of success may not be because of who you are, but WHERE you are.
Turn your de-cisions into DO-cisions.
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From Motivation is a Waste of Time
You can’t make the stars align…you can only make your star shine.
Provide the information they need, not the motivation to succeed.
Teaching begins with a student’s motivation to learn, not a teacher’s motivation to teach.
You can make a horse drink water, but you’ll end up exhausted, wet, and injured. And the horse will hate you.
The secret to building a legacy of inspiration and accomplishment is to share your energies and talents only with people who will appreciate them.
From Your Right to Fight: Stop Being So Nice!
The only difference between a bad guy and a good guy is the bad guy doesn’t worry about being a good guy.
Human beings are the only life forms on earth that doubt their right to fight, debate the right and wrong of fighting back against someone who is hurting them, or feel guilty for fighting for success and happiness.
You are not the same person you were last year, yesterday, or even a moment ago. With your next breath, your next thought, you can become as powerful and as happy as you want to be.
Other thoughts…
Don’t take it personally. Most people are incompetent, not evil.
Hacks are for hacks. Do the work.
