Samurai X Shishio Quotes

When the mindfulness of a samurai swordsman fails, he loses his life. When we lose mindfulness in daily life, something similar happens. We become so entangled in our own thoughts and emotions that we lose contact with the bigger picture. ~ Culadasa

Leaning back, she studied me, knuckles brushing along my jaw. "You've turned into a man overnight, it seems. Just yesterday, this face was three years old with a samurai turtle Band-Aid on your cheek."
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mom. Way more awesome than samurais."
"You're right. Ninjas have masks and nut chucks."
Any other time I would have laughed. "Nunchakus."
"I know, but you definitely did some damage to your nuts that I think you should get checked out before you have children. I meant to tell you years ago. ~ Ashlan Thomas

A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo

I dreamt of worldly success once. ~ Miyamoto Musashi

In the half-light through the drawn curtains she sits on her perch, relaxed, hooded, extraordinary. Formidable talons, wicked, curved black beak, sleek, cafe-au-lait front streaked thickly with cocoa-coloured teardrops, looking for all the world like some cappuccino samurai. ~ Helen Macdonald

Throughout his career, Jobs liked to see himself as an enlightened rebel pitted against evil empires, a Jedi warrior or Buddhist samurai fighting the forces of darkness. IBM was his perfect foil. He cleverly cast the upcoming battle not as a mere business competition, ~ Walter Isaacson

Naturally, the top does not automatically make us better. Like the samurai frequented ordinary cutthroat, so sometimes extreme mountaineer can be self-centered, mythomaniac or crook to each yourself and the environment. ~ Wojciech Kurtyka

There is even rhythm in being empty. ~ Miyamoto Musashi

I look at the Samurai because they were the artists of their time. What I think struck me when I read Bushido is compassion. 'If there's no one there to help, go out and find someone to help.' That hit me, because I try to lead my life like that. ~ Tom Cruise

Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning. ~ Tsunetomo Yamamoto

All these years! All this time with us
have you learned nothing?!
You only live by the grace of our clan's tenet of forgiveness!
Your judgement is shit!
Rectitude is the bone that gives firmness and stature. Without decency, neither talent nor learning can make the human frame into a samurai. ~ Rick Remender

No matter how much you hate or how much you suffer, you can't bring the dead back to life ~ Nobuhiro Watsuki

You re-watch 'Napoleon Dynamite', and there's a lot of thrift shopping that goes on in that movie; there's a lot of funny stuff. It's definitely amusing, and paying 99 cents for a samurai sword is amazing. ~ Al Madrigal

Becoming the opponent means you should put yourself in an opponent's place and think from the opponent's point of view. ~ Miyamoto Musashi

a samurai is a total human being, whereas a man who is completely absorbed in his technical skill has degenerated into a 'function', one cog in a machine. ~ Yukio Mishima

A samurai should always be prepared for death - whether his own or someone else's. ~ Stan Sakai

My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail. ~ Elon Musk

Unless you do your best, the day will come when, tired and hungry, you will halt just short of the goal you were ordered to reach, and by halting you will make useless the efforts and deaths of thousands. ~ George S. Patton

At the moment of victory, tighten the straps of your helmet. ~ Tokugawa Ieyasu

I dislike death, however, there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger. ~ Mencius

Mental bearing (calmness), not skill, is the sign of a matured samurai. A Samurai therefore should neither be pompous nor arrogant. ~ Tsukahara Bokuden

Working on the Samurai sword is very different because your body position has to be very still. It's a much quieter was of fighting. ~ Lucy Liu

Growing up as a kid, I wanted to be a ninja. In martial arts, even though I did Chinese kung fu, I always wanted to be this secret samurai or a ninja. There's something about ninjas that was very appealing to me as a kid. So of course, I was climbing a lot of trees and other things and getting up to mischief - good mischief. ~ Ray Park

You seem to be under the misconception that if you perform one brave deed, that alone makes you a samurai. Well it doesn't! you let that one act of loyalty convince you of your righteousness. The more convinced you became, the more harm you caused yourself and everyone else. ~ Eiji Yoshikawa

Pandora had no idea how fortunate she was that he didn't insist on sending her out with a bodyguard of assorted marksmen, cavalry, Scottish archers, and a few Japanese samurai thrown in for hood measure. ~ Lisa Kleypas

You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair. ~ Taisen Deshimaru

Supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy. ~ Sun Tzu

Emotional intensity" doesn't convey the half of it, of course. It is the kind of coarse and disappointing translation that makes the dismembered bodies of samurai warriors spin in their graves. The word "zanshin" is larded down with a lot of other folderol that you have to be Nipponese to understand. And Hiro thinks, frankly, that most of it is pseudomystical crap, on the same level as his old high school football coach exhorting his men to play at 110 percent. The businessman makes another attack. This one is pretty straightforward: a quick shuffling approach and then a snapping cut in the direction of Hiro's ribcage. Hiro parries it. ~ Neal Stephenson

I've done a lot of Samurai film in Japan, and sometimes done the choreography by myself. ~ Hiroyuki Sanada

As for the decorum at the time of a campaign, one must be mindful that he is a samurai. A person who loves beautification where it is unnecessary is fit for punishment. ~ Kato Kiyomasa

Life in Japan, nowadays, is nothing like a Kurosawa movie, and only the contemptible Weeaboo thinks that it is. In order to be a whole, well-rounded Otaku, you need to be up on Japanese popular culture, as much as you may be up on anime, samurai philosophy or the canon of Square Enix games. ~ Alexei Maxim Russell

William focused on her, opened his mouth, closed it. Seeing the weapon strapped to her back and peeking over her shoulder samurai-style, he frowned. "Nice sword," he said dryly.
"Thanks."
"It's one of my favorites."
"If you're nice, I'll give it back to you in a year or two."
"You're so good to me. ~ Gena Showalter

I do not like to be called a samurai, but I admit that I have an image of myself as a fighter. I would like to fight against all authorities and powers. ~ Nagisa Oshima

I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Ancient Japanese protocol stipulated that the Emperor be addressed with "fear and trembling". I've always loved the expression, which so perfectly describes the way actors in Samurai films speak to their leader, their voices tremulous with almost superhuman reverence.
So I put on the mask of terror and started to tremble. ~ Amelie Nothomb

Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies. It has this gritty feeling to it, and it's got a little bit of everything - a little bit of western, a little bit of samurai, and a lot of this very cinematic violence that I personally think is very entertaining. ~ Tove Styrke

With regards to the way of death, if you are prepared to die at any time, you will be able to meet your release from life with equanimity. As calamities are usually not as bad as anticipated beforehand, it is foolhardy to feel anxiety about tribulations not yet endured. Just accept that the worst possible fate for a man in service is to become a rōnin, or death by seppuku. Then nothing will faze you. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Summer grasses,
All that remains
Of soldiers' dreams ~ Matsuo Basho

The Way of the warrior (bushido) is to be found in dying. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Depending on one's point of view, Hagakure represents a mystical beauty intrinsic to the Japanese aesthetic experience, and a stoic but profound appreciation of the meaning of life and death. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo

The rat scuttles, the big cat creeps, the monkey dashes,
The bat glides, the white crane soars, the lizard darts,
And the owl hoots
In the middle of the night. ~ Sandy Fussell

The Samurai is the first to suffer anxiety for human society, and he is the last to seek personal pleasure. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

The world is dead, The Samurai, moving among the inert metal of pumps and lines and distillation columns, over the concrete apron in which the plants were constructed, over gravel brought from the Prospect quarries. it is a world of age-old stones - picking up a piece of gravel in which glinted minerals unknown to him - of basalt chiped from mountains long ago, lying around on roads, lying under hills waiting to be plundered. And laughing at humans. These dead rocks were all of them older than the human race which trod them. each fragment had an immortality. Humans rotted away into the soil in an instant of time.

What was the power he had that enabled him to lift this fragment of eternity in his hand and decide where to throw it? What had been breathed into his fragile dust that seemed for his instant of life to mock the inertia of the rock? Was his own existence supported by a paper warrant somewhere?

He drew back from following these thoughts. There was a power in him, or rather power came to him that made him stronger than he needed to be. A power that blew up certain feelings to an enormous size, a secret power. Was he so different from the men around him? What was the mission that he had been born to perform?
He deliberately relaxed. As he looked about him with a new mood the whole world filled with love. Even the dirt underfoot was sympathetic and grateful. he could love these random stones, these heaps of inert, formed metal so far now fro ~ David Ireland

THE ART OF PEACE does not rely on weapons or brute force to succeed; instead, we put ourselves in tune with the universe, maintain peace in our own realms, nurture life, and prevent death and destruction. The true meaning of the term samurai is one who serves and adheres to the power of love. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

I used to think that to become free you had to practice like a samurai warrior, but now I understand that you have to practice like a devoted mother of a newborn child. It takes the same energy but has a completely different quality. It's compassion and presence rather than having to defeat the enemy in battle. ~ Jack Kornfield