I’m going to change the way martial arts is viewed. I’m going to change the game. I’m going to change the way people approach fighting.

Don’t grow accustomed to living with less, doing less, and being less to the point that you eventually sit back and accept it.

You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

I want to rethink ‚surrender‘ as an active verb.

Boxing is limited fighting with a specific rule set. Fighting is true, where you can do anything.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

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.

It could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

I was becoming post-ideological.

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

Jiu Jitsu is a great workout both mentally and physically. You want to be strong for it and flexible for it.

Jiu Jitsu is probably the No. 1 activity that I could recommend to someone to improve their lives overall.

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan.

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.

The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities.

If you have to stand and fight, you train yourself so that you’re able to do it.

Cage Warriors is a brilliant organisation. They’re doing great things for European MMA, and they’re giving the platform for guys like me who came through. They’re vital. I’m forever grateful for the opportunities I got.

The goal of jiu-jitsu in self-defense isn’t to take someone down to the ground – the goal in jiu-jitsu for self-defense is actually to be able to defend yourself on the ground, get up, and get away from an attacker. That’s what the goal is.

The possession of anything begins in the mind.

The wild Indian power of escaping observation, even where there is little or no cover to hide in, was probably slowly acquired in hard hunting and fighting lessons while trying to approach game, take enemies by surprise, or get safely away when compelled to retreat.

I’ve learned new footwork patterns that are very unusual. I’ve learned how to find a lower centre of gravity, and I’ve found more angles to throw shots.

Who wants to leave the door open to being dominated physically by another human being? Jiu Jitsu gives you the ability to not be dominated by that person, and to me, that’s real peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about that when I’m walking around in the world.

You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‚I release the need for this in my life‘.

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’m in the game of spinning plates. I’m spinning a boxing plate. I’m spinning a Tae Kwon Do plate. I’m spinning a Jujitsu plate. I’m spinning a freestyle wrestling plate. I’m spinning a karate plate. If I was to put all them down and have one boxing plate spinning, it would be like a load off my shoulders.

I’m more of a realist when it comes to life, and I’d much rather my mother be in a spiritual place in Heaven than in a bed, sick, fighting for her life.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn’t drink, they didn’t smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him.

Wherever the enemy wants to fight, we will follow him to the ends of the Earth. We’ll adapt, we’ll train, we’ll advise, we’ll mentor, and we’ll fight, and we’ll fight well.

I think how you start the day many times determines what kind of day you’re going to have.

I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!

There is nothing I love as much as a good fight.

Ambition has become a dirty word, and I believe it is a great evolutionary force for the positive. If people fail or go astray in their ambition I can live with it but not with people lowering their expectations, wasting time, slacking off and glorifying failure and stupidity.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.

You can’t keep your mind on fighting when you’re thinking about a woman. You can’t keep your concentration. You feel like sleeping all the time.

Battle is an orgy of disorder.

The mind is everything. What you think you become.

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

Lenience will operate with greater force, in some instances than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have all of my conduct distinguished by it.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

At 155, I will be the same animal, an even better animal.

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can’t talk. The man can’t fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he’s gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

‚Worry‘ is a word that I don’t allow myself to use.

In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

Chinese combatants, men and women, inheritors of a millennial culture, are people of uncommon intelligence and an invincible spirit of struggle.

My goal is to be number one in MMA.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the U.N. vetoed several resolutions right away, calling for an end to the fighting and so on, and that was a hideous invasion.

You can live your life angry, bitter, mad at somebody or even guilty, not letting go of your own mistakes, but you won’t receive the good things God has in store.

I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.

I’m just looking to learn, grow, stay focused, and become a better fighter and a better athlete.

Jackie Chan is a myth.

When you are learning about a martial art, it is about respect.

When I’m ready to fight, my opponent has a better chance of surviving a forest fire wearing gasoline drawers.

I knew I’d be in the UFC since I started my career.