“water is fearless, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a teapot it becomes the teapot, water can flow drip, creap, or crash!”

—  Bruce Lee

Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "water is fearless, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a teapot it becomes the teapot, wat…" by Bruce Lee?
Bruce Lee photo
Bruce Lee193
Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and f… 1940–1973

Related quotes

Bruce Lee photo

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

Ken Follett photo

“Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands - it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.”

Ken Follett (1949) British novelist

Baba Hari Dass photo

“Just like pure water poured in a dirty cup becomes dirty, similarly the pure ego rooted in the impure mind becomes impure ego.”

Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition

Ego: (p.49)
The Path to Enlightenment is not a Highway, 1996

“There's something wrong with a mother who washes out a measuring cup with soap and water after she's only measured water in it.”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…

Rumi photo

“If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

Essential Sufism (1997)

Mansur Al-Hallaj photo

“The beloved does not drink a single drop of water without seeing His Face in the cup.”

Mansur Al-Hallaj (858–922) Persian mystic, revolutionary writer and teacher of Sufism

As quoted in Mystical Dimensions of Islam http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=583 (1978) by Annemarie Schimmel <br class="br">Context: The beloved does not drink a single drop of water without seeing His Face in the cup. Allah is He Who flows between the pericardium and the heart, just as the tears flow from the eyelids.

Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“The wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

Miyamoto Musashi photo

“With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645)
Context: Second is the Water book. With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea. … If you master the principles of sword-fencing, when you freely beat one man, you beat any man in the world. The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. … The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.

“It is a long time now since I knew that acute moment of bliss that comes from putting parched lips to a cup of cold water. The springs are still there to be enjoyed - all one needs is the original thirst.”

Laurie Lee (1914–1997) British writer

Appetite, p. 66.
I Can't Stay Long (1975)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe photo

“Modern poets put a lot of water into their ink.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Neuere Poeten tun viel Wasser in die Tinte.
Maxim 749, trans. Stopp
Variant translation: Modern poets mix a lot of water with their ink.
Maxims and Reflections (1833)

Related topics