Talk:Bruce Lee

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Where is your evidence? there is only evidence because of the arragance inside of the man he could not humble himself as i have been working on, and through true humbleness then you will find true peace of mind! my name is micheal lorrin williams my sources are life experience i am 25 love it live it and learn it. peace be with you.

Indeed, the first comment doesn't belong here. If there's evidence for those comments that were added, then the article should be divided into sections, with a comment, accompanying each quote, containing such evidence or additional information, where it's available. You can delete these unexplained comments until evidence is provided... And of course you can just improve the article in general... Sams 01:44, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sources

Sources should be provided for each quote. Unsourced quotes are unverified. Shawnc 17:17, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

bold

who is the "master" that thinks s/he knows what quotes are "superior" to be bolded?

removed. please write a book to note what you think is important. --87.194.72.129 22:12, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

As has been stated before, the act of quotation itself involves selectivity, on the part of editors, and I support the use of bolding, as an acceptable means of emphasis, despite such contentions as can arise over what should be bolded, or more frequently, against the contentions that everything should be drably uniform and nothing should be bolded at all. ~ Kalki 22:21, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

i see no consensus on that link. is your opinion superior to mine? --87.194.72.129 02:37, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Maybe, who knows, but I'm pretty sure yours is not superior to him :) As he said, bold quotes are ment to emphasize. I would say we could quote what Bruce Lee said, and put in bold what he felt

why are you pretty sure mine is an inferior opinion? are you genetically engineered with better dna around here? my point is, without consensus on the matter, shown by the very link pasted, a discussion would be preferable to blindly reverting edits.

Uuuh you might have misunderstood me :S Actually I do aprove to put in bolt some parts. It can help to say the difference between a good sentence and a strong deep feeling expressed with bold words :)

Random Images?

If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo.

Why are there so many random images which have no connection to this article on this page? Sonic Boom? What does that have to do with the man? I don't believe he ever flew an airplane. 82.113.39.26 11:29, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

This isn't Wikipedia where the images should have descriptions, explanations, or clear and obvious links to the subjects of the page. Though ideally available images relating to the subject can be used, it is enough that the images used have some relation to the subjects of the quote which they are used with. If you look around you will find images are commonly used on many pages in ways that indicate, have reference to, relate to, illustrate or emphasize in dramatic or humorous ways some of the statements made in their captions. This has been done to make the pages more visually and intellectually interesting, as well as, hopefully, more aesthetically pleasing to most people. ~ Kalki 12:23, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

"This has been done to make the pages more visually and intellectually interesting, as well as, hopefully, more aesthetically pleasing to most people." What a load of shit. How is that in any way more intellectually interesting? It looks childish and tacky. 98.208.95.209 23:43, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Then you should be bold and change it. A clear, collegial explanation of why you want to change it at the time will help the change remain in place. Saying "What a load of shit" to others in any ensuing discussions probably won't. --Bradeos Graphon Βραδέως Γράφων 15:41, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Original research?

There seems to be an attempt in this article to explain (or speculate over possible original sources for) many of Lee's comments. Is it the place of WQ to explain Bruce Lee, or should we just quote him? --Bradeos Graphon Βραδέως Γράφων 15:47, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote from this list please move it to Bruce Lee. --Antiquary 19:12, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

• A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard.

• A glass that is half empty is better than a fully broken glass.

• A martial artist who drills exclusively to a set pattern of combat is losing his freedom. He is actually becoming a slave to a choice pattern and feels that the pattern is the real thing. It leads to stagnation because the way of combat is never based on personal choice and fancies, but constantly changes from moment to moment, and the disappointed combatant will soon find out that his "choice routine" lacks pliability. There must be a "being" instead of a "doing" in training. One must be free. Instead of complexity of form, there should be simplicity of expression.

• A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.

• A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

• Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.

• All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.

• Art is the expression of the self. The more complicated and restricted the method, the less the opportunity for expression of one's original sense of freedom. Though they play an important role in the early stage, the techniques should not be too mechanical, complex or restrictive. If we cling blindly to them, we shall eventually become bound by their limitations. Remember, you are expressing the techniques and not doing the techniques. If somebody attacks you, your response is not Technique No.1, Stance No. 2, Section 4, Paragraph 5. Instead you simply move in like sound and echo, without any deliberation. It is as though when I call you, you answer me, or when I throw you something, you catch it. It's as simple as that — no fuss, no mess. In other words, when someone grabs you, punch him. To me a lot of this fancy stuff is not functional.

• As long as I can remember I feel I have had this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force which I hold in my hand.

• Before I studied the art, a punch to me was just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick. Now that I've understood the art, a punch is just like a punch, a kick just like a kick. The height of cultivation is really nothing special. It is merely simplicity; the ability to express the utmost with the minimum. It is the halfway cultivation that leads to ornamentation. Jeet Kune-Do is basically a sophisticated fighting style stripped to its essentials.

• By adopting a certain physical posture, a resonant chord is struck in spirit.

• Eliminate "not clear" thinking and function from your root.

• Eventually, you learn to read groups of words. Where a student will see three motions, the experienced man will see one, because he sees the overall energy path.

• Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.

• Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive.

• Give up thinking as though not giving it up. Observe techniques as though not observing.

• I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.

• I am not teaching you anything. I just help you to explore yourself.

• I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

• I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that.

• I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers or leaves.

• I refer to my hands, feet and body as the tools of the trade. The hands and feet must be sharpened and improved daily to be efficient.

• I'm not a master, I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning, So I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word master, I consider the master as such when they close the casket.

• If I tell you I'm good, you would probably think I'm boasting, If I tell you I'm no good, You know I'm lying.

• If there is a God, he is within. You don't ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.

• If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

• If you don't want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.

• If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

• If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you.

• If you want to do your duty properly, you should do just a little more than that.

• If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you.

• In building a statue, a sculptor doesn't keep adding clay to his subject. Actually, he keeps chiselling away at the inessentials until the truth of its creation is revealed without obstructions. Thus, contrary to other styles, being wise in Jeet Kune-Do doesn't mean adding more; it means to minimize, in other words to hack away the unessential.
  • Variant: It is not daily increase but daily decrease; hack away the unessential.
    In JKD, one does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.

• In combat, spontaneity rules; rote performance of technique perishes.

• In Jeet Kune-Do, physical conditioning is a must for all martial artists. If you are not physically fit, you have no business doing any hard sparring. To me, the best exercise for this is running. Running is so important that you should keep it up during your lifetime. What time of the day you run is not important as long as you run. In the beginning you should jog easily and then gradually increase the distance and tempo, and finally include sprints to develop your 'wind.' Let me give you a bit of warning: just because you get very good at your training it should not go to your head that you are an expert. Remember, actual sparring is the ultimate, and the training is only a means toward this. Besides running, one should also do exercises for the stomach — sit-ups, leg raises, etc. Too often one of those big-belly masters will tell you that his internal power has sunk to his stomach; he's not kidding, it is sunk and gone! To put it bluntly, he is nothing but fat and ugly.

• In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

• It is true that the mental aspect of kung-fu is the desired end; however, to achieve this end, technical skill must come first.

• It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

• It's not what you give, it's the way you give it.

• Jeet Kune Do is training and discipline towards the ultimate reality in combat.
  Jeet Kune-Do is the only non-classical style of Chinese Kung Fu in existence today. It is simple in its execution, although not so simple to explain. Jeet means "to stop, to stem, to intercept," while Kune means "fist" or "style," and Do means "the way" or "the ultimate reality." In other words — "The Way of the Intercepting Fist."

• Jeet Kune Do, It's just a name, don't fuss over it. There's no such thing as a style if you understand the roots of combat.

• Jeet Kune Do uses no way as way. The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.

• Knowing is not enough, you must apply; willing is not enough, you must do.

• Knowledge in martial arts actually means self-knowledge. A martial artist has to take responsibility for himself and accept the consequences of his own doing. The understanding of JKD is through personal feeling from movement to movement in the mirror of the relationship and not through a process of isolation. To be is to be related. To isolate is death. To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that, my friend, is very hard to do.

• Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the principle. In short, enter a mold without being caged in it. Obey the principle without being bound by it. LEARN, MASTER AND ACHIEVE!!!
  • Variant: Obey the principles without being bound by them.

• Let the spirit out — Discard all thoughts of reward, all hopes of praise and fears of blame, all awareness of one's bodily self. And, finally closing the avenues of sense perception, let the spirit out, as it will.

• Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

• Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.

Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu, to master it, one must enter into the spirit of it.

• Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu, to master it, one must enter into the spirit of it.

• Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

• Nothingness cannot be defined; the softest thing cannot be snapped.

• Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.

• Out of chaos, find simplicity, From discord, find harmony.

• Practice all movements slow and fast, soft and hard; the effectiveness of Jeet Kune-Do depends on split-second timing and reflexive action, which can be achieved only through repetitious practice.

• Put every great teacher together in a room, and they'd agree about everything; put their disciples in there and they'd argue about everything.
  • Variant: Put every great teacher in a room, and they'd agree about everything, but put their disciples in there and they'd argue about everything.

• Real living is living for others.

• Showing off is the fool's idea of glory.

• Simplicity is the key to brilliance.

• Styles tend to not only separate men — because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth.

• Because of styles, people are separated. They are not united together because styles became laws. But the original founder of the style started out hypotheses, and now it has become the grospel truth. People that go into them became their product. It doesn't matter how you are, who you are, how you are structured, how you are built, how you are made. It doesn't matter. You just go in there and be that product. And that, to me is not life.

• Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.

• Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.

• The aim of art is to project an inner vision into the world, to state in aesthetic creation the deepest psychic and personal experiences of a human being. It is to enable those experiences to be intelligible and generally recognized within the total framework of an ideal world.

• The best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt on any style. He kicks too good for a Boxer, throws too good for a Karate man, and punches too good for a Judo man.

• The combatant should be alive in sparring, throwing punches and kicks from all angles, and should not be a co-operative robot. Like water, sparring should be formless. Pour water into a cup, it becomes part of the cup. Pour it into a bottle; it becomes part of the bottle. Try to kick or punch it, it is resilient; clutch it and it will yield without hesitation. In fact, it will escape as pressure is being applied to it. How true it is that nothingness cannot be confined. The softest thing cannot be snapped.

• The first rule is to keep yourself well covered at all times and never leave yourself open while sparring around the bag. By all means use your footwork — side stepping, feinting, varying your kicks and blows to the bag. Do not shove or flick at it. Explode through it and remember that the power of the kick and punch comes from the correct contact at the right spot and at the right moment with the body in perfect position; not, as many people think, from the vigor with which the kicks or blows are delivered.

• The future looks extremely bright indeed, with lots of possibilities ahead — big possibilities. Like the song says, "We've just begun."

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

• The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation.

• The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement.
  A good JKD man does not oppose force or give way completely. He is pliable as a spring; he is the complement and not the opposition to his opponent’s strength. He has no technique; he makes his opponent's technique his technique. He has no design; he makes opportunity his design.
  One should not respond to circumstance with artificial and "wooden" prearrangement. Your action should be like the immediacy of a shadow adapting to its moving object. Your task is simply to complete the other half of the oneness spontaneously.

• The idea is that flowing water never goes stale, so just keep on flowing.

• The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

• The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.

• The main characteristic JKD is the absence of the usual classical passive blocking. Blocking is the least efficient. Jeet Kune-Do is offensive; it's alive and it's free.

• The mind is like a fertile garden in which anything that is planted, flowers or weeds, will grow.

• The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to "do" the punch, or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over, will only work to opposite effect.

• The old-fashioned punching speed bag teaches you to hit straight and square; if you don't hit it straight the bag will not return directly to you. Besides learning footwork, you can hit the bag upward too. Another important function is that after the delivery of the punch, the bag will return instantaneously and this will teach you to be alert and to recover quickly. The bag should not be hit in a rhythmic motion but instead in a broken rhythm. Actually fight the bag as if it is your opponent.

• The point is doing of them rather than the accomplishments. There is no actor but the action; there is no experiencer but the experience.

• The possession of anything begins in the mind.

• The techniques, though they play an important role in the early stage, should not be too restrictive, complex or mechanical. If we cling to them, we will become bound by their limitation. Remember, you are expressing the technique, and not doing Technique number two, Stance three, Section four?

• The void is no mere emptiness, but is real, free and existing. It is the source from which all things arise and return. It cannot be seen, touched or known, yet it exists and is freely used. It has no shape, size, colour or form, and yet all that we see, hear, feel and touch is "it". It is beyond intellectual knowing and cannot be grasped by the ordinary mind. When we suddenly awake to the realization that there is no barrier, and has never been seen, one realizes that one is all things, mountains, rivers, grasses, trees, sun, moon, stars, universe are all oneself. There is no longer a division or barrier between myself and others, no longer any feeling of alienation or fear. Realizing this, results in true compassion. Other people and things are not seen as apart from oneself, on the contrary, as one's own body.

• The way to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

• There are lots of guys around the world that are lazy. They have big fat guts. They talk about chi power and things they can do, but don't believe it.

• There is no fixed teaching. All I can provide is an appropriate medicine for a particular ailment.

• There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is.

• There is nothing better than free-style sparring in the practice of any combative art. In sparring you should wear suitable protective equipment and go all out. Then you can truly learn the correct timing and distance for the delivery of the kicks, punches, etc. It is a good idea to spar with all types of individuals — tall, short, fast, clumsy. Yes, at times a clumsy fellow will mess up a better man because his awkwardness serves as a sort of broken rhythm. The best sparring partner, though, is a quick, strong man who does not know anything; a madman who goes all out, scratching, grabbing, grappling, punching, kicking, and so on.

• There is only one type of body, 2 arms, 2 legs, etc that make up the human body. Therefore, there can only be one style of fighting. If the other guy had 4 arms and 2 legs, there might have to be a different one. Forget the belief that one style is better than the other, the point of someone that does not just believe in tradition, but actually wants to know how to fight is to take what you need from every martial art and incorporate it into your own. Make it effective and very powerful, but don't worry if you are taking moves from many different arts, that is a good thing.

• This statement expresses my feelings perfectly: 'In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess.'

• To develop proper distance and penetration against a moving target, use a partner equipped either with a body protector or an air bag. He can either stand still and take the brunt of the kick, or he can back away from the attack. The former teaches proper application of the kick, especially valuable in teaching beginners. The latter training is to teach penetration. As soon as your partner thinks you will attack, he tries to back away as fast as possible. This practice is valuable to both men; one learns to penetrate and the other to back away quickly. The body protector is sometimes used for sharpening the attack. The partner will not attack but will maintain a correct distance in a ready fighting pose. As you begin to attack, he will try to counter, block, or move away. You will have almost the actual feeling of hitting your opponent in a real situation.

• To hell with circumstances. I create opportunities.

• To me, the function and duty of a quality human is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.

• To me totality is very important in sparring. Many styles claim this totality. They say that they can cope with all types of attacks; that their structures cover all the possible lines and angles, and are capable of retaliation from all angles and lines. If this is true, then how did all the different styles come about? If they are in totality, why do some use only the straight lines, others the round lines, some only kicks, and why do still others who want to be different just flap and flick their hands? To me a system that clings to one small aspect of combat is actually in bondage.

• To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.

• To reach the masses, some sort of big organization (whether) domestic and foreign branch affiliation, is not necessary. To reach the growing number of students, some sort of pre-conformed set must be established as standards for the branch to follow. As a result all members will be conditioned according to the prescribed system. Many will probably end up as a prisoner of a systematized drill.

• To see a thing uncoloured by one's own personal preferences and desires is to see it in its own pristine simplicity.

• Voidness is that which stands right in the middle between this and that. The void is all-inclusive, having no opposite — there is nothing which it excludes or opposes. It is living void, because all forms come out of it and whoever realizes the void is filled with life and power and the love of all being.

• When I look around I always learn something, and that is to be yourself always, express yourself, and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate him. Now that seems to be the prevalent thing happening in Hong Kong, like they always copy mannerism, but they never start from the root of his being and that is, how can I be me?

• When people talk about fighting schools they say that Kung Fu, or Karate, or this other style is the best. That is silly, and the problem becomes that the fighting style then becomes set in stone with no growth, and no adaptation, because what works well with me might not work for you.

• When performing the movements, always use your imagination. Picture your adversary attacking, and use Jeet Kune-Do techniques in response to this imagined attack. As these techniques become more innate, new meaning will begin to emerge and better techniques can be formulated.

• When you fight, if it is a real fight, use every tool that you have, use your whole body. Use your fists, your legs, your fingers, your head if you have to, and hit them in every vulnerable spot, the balls, the eyes etc. to win.

• Wine may become so dilute that few will drink of it.

• Words are energy and cast spells, that's why it's called spelling. Change the way you speak about yourself and you can change your life.
  • This article says it's not real, although one of the sources they link at the end is actually about a completely different quote attributed both to Bruce Lee and Warren Buffett. Regardless, I couldn't find any sources attributing it to Lee earlier than this 2019 reddit post listed in the article, but searching for some phrases along with various years shows unattributed quotes were posted earlier, like this one from 2012, this one from 2014, and this one from 2018.

• You just wait. I'm going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

• Your best move.... is the move you regret not doing.

About Bruce Lee (unsourced)

• Bruce and I were training out on my patio one day, we were using this giant bag for side kicks, I guess it weighed about 150lbs. Bruce kicked it and it just went Bang, it shot up out into the lawn about 15ft in the air, it then busted in the middle. It was filled with little bits and pieces of rag, we were picking up bits of rag for months.
  • James Coburn

• Yes, I was on the receiving end of his side kick. It was like getting hit with a truck.
  • Leo Fong

• When he could do push ups on his thumbs and push ups with 250lbs on his back, he moved on to other exercises.
  • Jesse Glover

• The power that Lee was capable of instantly generating was absolutely frightening to his fellow martial artists, especially his sparring partners, and his speed was equally intimidating. We timed him with an electric timer once. The timer was hooked up to a light switch that activated it when the light was turned off. It was stopped by striking a pad with a cut off switch behind it. Bruce tested his reactions several times and they were all about five hundredths of a second (0.05 second). Bruce´s first punches were thrown from a distance of three feet. When he closed from five feet his reactions were slower but they were still around eight hundredths of a second (0.08 second). Not only was he amazingly quick, but he could read you too. He could pick up on small subtle things that you were getting ready to do and then he'd just shut you down.
  • Jesse Glover

• Bruce was gravitating more and more toward weight training as he would use the weighted wall pulleys and do series upon series with them. He'd also grab one of the old rusty barbells that littered the floor at the YMCA and would roll it up and down his forearms, which is no small feat when you consider that the barbell weighed 70lbs.
  • Jesse Glover

• The biggest problem in designing equipment for Bruce was that he'd go through it so damn fast. I had to reinforce his wooden dummy with automobile parts so he could train on it without breaking it. I had started to build him a mobile dummy that could actually attack and retreat to better simulate "live" combat, sadly Bruce died before the machine was built. It would have been strung up by big high-tension cables that I was going to connect between two posts, one on either side of his backyard. The reason for the machine was simply because no one could stand up to his full force punches and kicks, Bruce's strength and skill had evolved to a point where he had to fight machines.
  • Herb Jackson

• He never trained in a gym, he thought he could concentrate better at home, so he worked out on his patio. He had a small weight set, something like a standard 100lb cast-iron set. In addition, he had a 310lb Olympic barbell set, a bench press and some dumbbells, both solid and adjustable.
  • Herb Jackson

• Bruce used to beat all other comers at this type of wrist wrestling and even joked that he wanted to be world champion at it.
  • Herb Jackson

• Bruce, well I can basically say this. I have been around a lot of great martial arts fighters. Worked out with them. Fought them in tournaments. In my opinion Bruce Lee was the greatest martial artist who ever lived. To me thats my opinion. I think Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist ever. I don't think anybody is in his class.
  • Jim Kelly

• Bruce was incredibly strong for his size. He could take a 75lb barbell and from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest, he could slowly stick his arms out, lock them and hold the barbell there for 20 seconds, that's pretty damn tough for a guy who at the time only weighed 138lbs. I know 200lb weight lifters who can't do that.
  • Joe Lewis

• I never stood in front of another human who was as quick as him. He not only had the quickness but he had the inner confidence to muster the conviction to do so. I've seen others who had the speed but lack conviction or vice versa. He was like Ali, he had both. I stood before both of these men, so I know.
  • Joe Lewis

• Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest.
  • Chuck Norris

• Bruce was like the Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali in his prime, somebody who stood above everyone else. It's not that the other martial artists weren't good. It's just that this guy was great.
  • Doug Palmer

• I think its important for people to realize that he was not only one of history's greatest martial artists, but also one of the finest athletes period. His devotion to physical exercise and healthy lifestyle was mind-boggling.
  • James Rage

• Bruce always felt that if your stomach wasn't developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring.
  • Mito Uhera

• Bruce Lee is my idol. I need to learn some techniques of Bruce Lee, you know, the quickness of his hands and legs.
  • Manny Pacquiao on Bruce Lee