Bruce Lee: Quotes about thinking

Bruce Lee was Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker. Explore interesting quotes on thinking.
Bruce Lee: 386   quotes 256   likes

“Balance your thoughts with action. — If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.”

Bruce Lee

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 43

Thinking , Time

“If thought exists, I who think and the world about which I think also exist; the one exists but for the other, having no possible separation between them.”

Bruce Lee

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 21
Context: If thought exists, I who think and the world about which I think also exist; the one exists but for the other, having no possible separation between them. Therefore, the world and I are both in active correlation; I am that which sees the world, and the world is that which is seen by me. I exist for the world and the world exists for me. … One sure and primary and fundamental fact is the joint existence of a subject and of its world. The one does not exist without the other. I acquire no understanding of myself except as I take account of objects, of the surroundings. I do not think unless I think of things — and there I find myself.

World , Thinking

“I do not think unless I think of things — and there I find myself.”

Bruce Lee

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 21
Context: If thought exists, I who think and the world about which I think also exist; the one exists but for the other, having no possible separation between them. Therefore, the world and I are both in active correlation; I am that which sees the world, and the world is that which is seen by me. I exist for the world and the world exists for me. … One sure and primary and fundamental fact is the joint existence of a subject and of its world. The one does not exist without the other. I acquire no understanding of myself except as I take account of objects, of the surroundings. I do not think unless I think of things — and there I find myself.

Thinking

“Neither. I think of myself as a human being.”

Bruce Lee

Source: The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee (1996), p. 87, when asked if he thought of himself as Chinese or American

Thinking

“Not being tense but ready.
Not thinking but not dreaming.
Not being set but flexible.
Liberation from the uneasy sense of confinement.
It is being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come.”

Bruce Lee book Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Source: Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Dreams , Thinking , Sense

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

Bruce Lee
Nature , Thinking , Victory

“As you think, so shall you become.”

Bruce Lee
Thinking

“Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”

Bruce Lee
Life , Thinking

“Don't think, feel…. it is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!”

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee: Enter the Dragon (1973); In a training session with one of the temple students.
Variant: Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Dont concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
Source: Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living

Way , Feeling , Thinking

“Cease negative mental chattering. — If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed.”

Bruce Lee

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 121

Thinking

“What you HABITUALLY THINK largely determines what you will ultimately become.”

Bruce Lee

Possibly, but more likely derived from the Buddha: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become."
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 120; This probably derives from a Rosicrucian proverb, "As you think, so shall you become", which is itself probably derived from Proverbs 23:7 "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Thinking

“The primary reality is not what I think, but that I live, for those also live who do not think.”

Bruce Lee

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 7

Thinking , Reality

“You have to keep your reflexes so that when you want it — it’s there. When you want to move — you are moving. And when you move, you are determined to move! Not accepting even one inch less than 100 percent of your honest feelings. Not anything less than that. So that is the type of thing you have to train yourself into. To become one with your feelings so that, when you think — it is.”

Bruce Lee

Source: The Warrior Within : The Philosophies of Bruce Lee (1996), p. 126

Feeling , Thinking , Training

“You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I mean I don't want to be like "As Confucius say," but under the sky, under the heavens there is but one family. It just so happens man that people are different.”

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1971)

People , Family , Thinking