An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. It is not satisfied with explanation, with conclusions. Nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another form of conclusion.
To reach me, you must move to me. Your attack offers me an opportunity to intercept you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that understanding and connection require effort and movement towards one another.
Bruce Lee's quote emphasizes the importance of taking proactive steps to create connection and understanding. It underscores the idea that one must actively engage with others rather than expect them to come to you. The notion of an 'attack' can be interpreted as a challenge or a confrontation, which can provide a chance for deeper insight and response. Overall, the quote speaks to the dynamics of interaction and the necessity of intentional effort in relationships.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on conflict resolution, this quote can illustrate the necessity of mutual effort in resolving disputes.
More from Bruce Lee
All quotes βThereβs only one basic principle of self-defense- you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.
Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.
Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strange confidence.
More and more I believe in the fact that you have two hands and two legs, and the thing is how to make good use of yourself - and that's about it.
Because one does not want to be disturbed, to be made uncertain, he establishes a pattern of conduct, of thought, a pattern of relationships to man. He then becomes a slave to the pattern and takes the pattern to be the real thing.
Similar quotes
The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized, that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?
Industrial civilization is only possible when there's no self-denial. Self-indulgence up to the very limits imposed by hygiene and economics. Otherwise the wheels stop turning.
Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld.
Christ did not die to make his Father loving, but because his Father is loving: the atoning blood is the outflow of the very heart of God toward us.
True reflection presents me to myself not as idle and inaccessible subjectivity, but as identical with my presence in the world and to others, as I am now realizing it: I am all that I see, I am an intersubjective field, not despite my body and historical situation, but, on the contrary, by being this body and this situation, and through them, all the rest.
There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, , etc., that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.