The end is important in all things.
When one is writing a letter, they should think that the recipient will make it into a hanging scroll.
Singlemindedness is all-powerful.
The basic meaning of etiquette is to be quick at both the beginning and end and tranquil in the middle.
It is spiritless to think that you cannot attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. If you think that you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.
Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead.
Although this may be a most difficult thing, if one will do it, it can be done. There is nothing that one should suppose cannot be done.
No matter if the enemy has thousands of men, there is fulfillment in simply standing them off and being determined to cut them all down, starting from one end.
In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing .
Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.
Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate.
If one has no earnest daily intention, does not consider what it is to be a warrior even in his dreams, and lives through the day idly, he can be said to be worthy of punishment.
Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstances. The way of avoiding shame is different. It is simply in death.
Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, “This is not enough.
In offering one’s opinion, one must first ascertain whether or not the recipient is in the right frame of mind to receive counsel.
If you are unaware that the world is teeming with ineptitude from the beginning, you will develop a bitter countenance, and in turn others will eschew you.
At times because of one man’s evil, ten thousand people suffer. So you kill that one man to let the tens of thousands live. Here, truly, the blade that deals death becomes the sword that saves lives.
It is bad to carry even a good thing too far. Even concerning things such as Buddhism, Buddhist sermons, and moral lessons, talking too much will bring harm.
There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to all things.
Imitating another style is simply a sham.