Top 90 Chris Matakas Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Properly directed thoughts result in properly directed actions. The only way to appropriately guide our thoughts is to know their foundation, our values.”

— Chris Matakas

52. “Quotes tell a story. A stringing together of a few words can leave you with an idea that changes the course of your life, and can direct you toward reaching your highest potential as a human. The story they tell is derived from the experience which inspired them, and it is our sharing that experience that allows for the quote to resonate so deeply within our being.”

— Chris Matakas

53. “We see that the vast majority of our suffering is needless, and simply arises from the misidentification with our thinking mind.”

— Chris Matakas

54. “Things can be added, but that doesn’t mean that anything is missing.”

— Chris Matakas

55. “True mastery, it turns out, is not found in accumulating each and every tool under the sun. True mastery is learning that there are really only a handful of tools, and it is the proper application with correct timing and setting that makes them so useful.”

— Chris Matakas

56. “Mastery does not exist.”

— Chris Matakas

57. “The very fact that you can observe this thinking mind is proof that you are not this thinking mind.”

— Chris Matakas

58. “I can think of no more worthwhile aim than pursuing mastery in this craft while transcending one’s own limitations.”

— Chris Matakas

59. “For the sincere student, it mustn’t be enough to simply understand Jiu Jitsu. We must seek to understand ourselves.”

— Chris Matakas

60. “Thoreau and Huxley calmly state what I have spent years trying to articulate, and never found the words for doing so. To read the words of these great men is to read the highest expression of my very self which is inexpressible due to the shortcomings of my particular nature.”

— Chris Matakas

61. “I train because it makes every area of my life better, and it makes me better at every area of my life.”

— Chris Matakas

62. “We must not learn to try harder. The key is to learn how not to try in the first place.”

— Chris Matakas

63. “Anyone who has ever achieved anything has been a steward of his potential.”

— Chris Matakas

64. “When we know our values, we can easily measure whether or not our actions are in accordance with them. Values are the measuring sticks with which we determine the worthiness of our actions. To be better associated with one’s own values is to remove a lot of the needless activities of daily life.”

— Chris Matakas

65. “This constant mental diatribe and the frustrations, worries, insecurities and muscular tension that ensues are the self.”

— Chris Matakas

66. “The major events in our lives receive the entire spotlight, but ultimately your life will be defined by the same handful of choices you make each day.”

— Chris Matakas

67. “My time in the woods is time spent with a tutor on how to live.”

— Chris Matakas

68. “What greater fetter to anchoring ourselves to the false notion of self could there be than a selfie? It is named after an illusion!”

— Chris Matakas

69. “Plateaus are a manifestation of the law of diminishing returns, and when we reach one it simply means that it is time to adjust our methods.”

— Chris Matakas

70. “When we honestly take stock of our ability, we are then granted the opportunity to improve our circumstance. Accessing where you stand is the only way to stand somewhere else.”

— Chris Matakas

71. “The greatest effects we have on the world are the ones we can never see.”

— Chris Matakas

72. “To base your self worth relative to others is to play a losing game. If you are at the bottom, you will be filled with self-loathing. If you are at the top, you will be filled with self-aggrandizement and ego. This will most certainly be one of your greatest obstacles to achieving whatever degree of mastery you are capable.”

— Chris Matakas

73. “Jiu Jitsu uses us to express itself, and the best thing we can do to is to become a vehicle capable of expressing Jiu Jitsu with all of its perfection minus our imperfections.”

— Chris Matakas

74. “Any advanced student will tell you the best way to recover guard is simply not to get your guard passed in the first place.”

— Chris Matakas

75. “We forget that things can only be things when there is something which is not a thing, the space.”

— Chris Matakas

76. “The medal from an old grappling tournament will not serve me today, but the courage I developed in its acquisition will. By investing in yourself, by using all endeavors as a vehicle to shape who we are, we exist in the present moment with a lifetime of growth behind us. I have loved many vehicles throughout the years, Jiu Jitsu more than any other, but the vehicle has, and always will, be a distant second to the driver.”

— Chris Matakas

77. “Empathy is a breaking down of the false constructs of division between the observer and the observed.”

— Chris Matakas

78. “On the other side of self-doubt comes a confidence from faith in the process. Even though our destination may be a long way off, each day we rise with a subtle smile as if we have already achieved it, because, when we are truly committed to a task, we already have.”

— Chris Matakas

79. “When you define yourself based on things you have done, in order to maintain that self-image you must constantly look away from the present moment, as you search for a means of self-understanding through past experiences.”

— Chris Matakas

80. “I envision a world in which the vast majority of us are actively striving toward our potential by serving others through mediums we are most passionate.”

— Chris Matakas

81. “We are never truly ourselves as we are mid-roll.”

— Chris Matakas

82. “If nothing lasts then everything has meaning. If everything dies that means we actually live.”

— Chris Matakas

83. “We are now forced to actively pursue our struggles. If we do not go out of our way to stretch our comfort zones and grow, no one nor nature will do it for us.”

— Chris Matakas

84. “We must know where we want to go in order to get there. Our modern lives are growing increasingly chaotic, and it is only a clear, definitive purpose that will keep us on track.”

— Chris Matakas

85. “Jiu Jitsu forges friendships in a way I’ve never known. Being involved in an art as intimate as this, where bodily connection is a must, the common cultural boundaries of personal space are broken. You will never see more hugs, high fives, and physical expressions of love than on the mats. Ultimately, this proves to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of our pursuit of mastery. Along the way, we learn to love others as we love ourselves.”

— Chris Matakas

86. “I am fortunate to be content with having very little, and so I never wanted the new car, fancy clothes, the big TV and the video games. All I ever wanted to do was read, walk through the woods and do Jiu Jitsu. When this is the foundation upon which your life is built, you need very little in the way of material security.”

— Chris Matakas

87. “As far as our relation to the physical world, I doubt there will be much more improvement. Our basic survival needs have been met, and much of our current progress is superfluous or downright troublesome. Most advancement is performed out of comfort rather than necessity. What we are lacking, what the world so desperately needs now, is adjustments of the mind. We need to see the world again with fresh eyes, and come to an understanding of who we are as individuals, and what drives us.”

— Chris Matakas

88. “Where my tendons have been torn, my psyche has been mended. This was a worthy trade.”

— Chris Matakas

89. “Do not seek victory, for victory in itself will not serve you. Seek to understand what made the victory possible.”

— Chris Matakas

90. “Jiu Jitsu gave me the opportunity to be a real human being. It opened my heart and my mind. I am kinder, more gentle and more loving due to my efforts in this art.”

— Chris Matakas

91. “Jiu Jitsu removes the societal walls that we have been forced to unknowingly hold up with our adopted beliefs. It removes the limits of common thought, and allows for expression of our highest ideals.”

— Chris Matakas

92. “Jesus was not a carpenter forever.”

— Chris Matakas

93. “To achieve anything we must grind, but to enjoy anything we must flow.”

— Chris Matakas