Bruce Lee

1940–1973 · Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor & filmmaker

Born in San Francisco in 1940 and raised in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was a martial artist, actor and filmmaker who died in 1973 at thirty-two. He built Jeet Kune Do — “the way of the intercepting fist” — around the idea that a fixed style is a cage, a conviction Wikipedia summarises as his principle of “the style of no style.” In 1971 he appeared in four episodes of the American series Longstreet; the first of them, “The Way of the Intercepting Fist,” was credited to his own student, the Oscar-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant — the collaboration that put the water metaphor on television. The episode table ↗

Traced to source

4 quotes we’ve traced to Bruce Lee

“A teacher, a really good sensei, is never a giver of 'truth'; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that the student must discover for himself”

Verified

“Be water, my friend”

Verified

“Don't think. Feel. It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory”

Verified

“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic. True power is restraint”

Disputed

Not actually Bruce Lee

Often misattributed to Bruce Lee

Famous lines widely pinned on Bruce Lee that we’ve traced to someone else.

“He who knows not, and knows not he knows not, is a fool; shun him. He who knows not, and knows he knows not, is simple; teach him. He who knows, and knows not he knows, is asleep; awaken him. He who knows, and knows he knows, is wise; follow him”

actually An anonymous proverb (documented as an “Arabic” / Oriental saying)

“The perfect way is only difficult for those who pick and choose. Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference and heaven and earth are set apart; if you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between 'for' and 'against' is the mind's worst disease”

actually Jianzhi Sengcan (Third Zen Patriarch); English by Arthur Waley

“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic. True power is restraint”

actually Unknown (anonymous)

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