Masutatsu Oyama quotes

The heart of our karate is real fighting. There can be no proof without real fighting. Without proof there is no trust. Without trust there is no respect. This is a definition in the world of martial arts.
- Masutatsu Oyama

I realized that perseverence and step-by-step progress are the only ways to reach a goal along a chosen path.
- Masutatsu Oyama

If you do not overcome your tendency to give up easily, your life leads to nothing.
- Masutatsu Oyama

One must try, everyday, to expand one's limits.
- Masutatsu Oyama

One becomes a beginner after 1000 days of training. One becomes a master after 10,000 days of practice.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Karate is not a game. It is not a sport. It is not even a system of self-defense. Karate is half physical exercise and half spiritual. The karateist who has given the necessary years of exercise and meditation is a tranquil person. He is unafraid. He can even be calm in a burning building.
- Masutatsu Oyama

If you have confidence in your own words, aspirations, thoughts, and actions and do your very best, you will have no need to regret the outcome of what you do. Fear and trembling are lot of the person who, while stinting effort, hopes that everything will come out precisely as he wants.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Human beings are capable of virtually limitless degradation; they are also capable of virtually limitless improvement and achievement. Success depends on goals and on diligence in pursuing them.
- Masutatsu Oyama

If someone asked me what a human being ought to devote the maximum of his life to, I would answer: training. Train more than you sleep.
- Masutatsu Oyama

No matter how strong the rival, the just will always win.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Behind each triumph are new peaks to be conquered.
- Masutatsu Oyama

The path of Martial Arts begins and ends with courtesy. So be genuinely polite on every occasion.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Each of us has his cowardice. Each of us is afraid to lose, afraid to die. But hanging back is the way to remain a coward for life. The Way to find courage is to seek it on the field of conflict. And the sure way to victory is willingness to risk one's own life.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Personal greed and egoism are things that cause human beings to forget respect for others and to violate rules that have been established for the sake of peace and friendship.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Studying the martial Way is like climbing a cliff: keep going forward without rest. Resting is not permissible because it causes recessions to old adages of achievement. Persevering day in, day out improves techniques, but resting one day causes lapses. This must be prevented.
- Masutatsu Oyama

The most important are the eyes. In a fight if you look down out of fear you'll certainly be defeated.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Always remember that the true meaning of Budo is that soft overcomes hard, small overcomes large.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Subjecting yourself to vigourous training is more for the sake of forging a resolute spirit that can vanquish the self than it is for developing a strong body.
- Masutatsu Oyama

A human life gains lustre and strength only when it is polished and tempered.
- Masutatsu Oyama

Karate is Budo and if Budo is removed from Karate it is nothing more than sport karate, show karate, or even fashion karate-the idea of training merely to be fashionable.
- Masutatsu Oyama