Yamamoto Tsunetomo Quotes about War

If you are slain in battle, you should be resolved to have your corpse facing the enemy.

As everything in this world is but a sham, Death is the only sincerity.

One should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths.

The Four Oaths: Never be late with respect to the way of the warrior; be useful to the lord; be respectful to your parents; get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of man.

It is said that one should not hesitate to correct himself when he has made a mistake. If he corrects himself without the least bit of delay, his mistakes will disappear.

The end is important in all things.

Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty.

It is a principle of the art of war that one should simply lay down his life and strike. If one's opponent also does the same, it is a even match. Defeating one's opponent is then a matter of faith and destiny.

Go ahead and gamble a lie. A person who will not tell you seven lies within a hundred yards is useless as a man.

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.

A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.

There is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished.

By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man?

In the eyes of mercy, no one should have hateful thoughts. Feel pity for the man who is even more at fault. The area and size of mercy is limitless.

It is better not to become acquainted with men about whom you have formerly had doubts. No matter what you do, they will be people by whom you will be tripped up or taken in.

Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.

If one thinks only of winning, a sordid victory will be worse than a defeat. For the most part, it becomes a squalid defeat.

Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see that they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery.

It is better to have some unhappiness while one is still young, for if a person does not experience some bitterness, his disposition will not settle down.

When someone is giving you his opinion, you should receive it with deep gratitude even though it is worthless. If you don't, he will not tell you the things that he has seen and heard about you again.

You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.

A warrior should not say something fainthearted, even casually. He should set his mind to this beforehand. Even in trifling matters the depths of one's heart can be seen.

Covetousness, anger and foolishness are things to sort out well. When bad things happen in the world, if you look at them comparatively, they are not unrelated to these three things.

By inconsistency and frivolity we stray from the Way and show ourselves to be beginners. In this we do much harm.

The person who practices an art is an artist, not a samurai, and one should have the intention of being called a samurai.