Top 40 Gichin Funakoshi Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Think of everyday life as karate training.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

Featured in: Martial Arts Quotes

2. “First know yourself, then know others.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

Featured in: Martial Arts Quotes

3. “Spirit first, technique second.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

Featured in: Martial Arts Quotes

4. “The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

Featured in: Martial Arts Quotes, Perfection Quotes

5. “Karate is like boiling water, if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

6. “There is no first strike in Karate.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

7. “Seek perfection of character. Be faithful. Endeavor. Respect others. Refrain from violent behaviour.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

8. “In battle, do not think that you have to win. Think rather that you do not have to lose.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

9. “Put Karate into your everyday living, that is how you will see true beauty.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

10. “Apply the way of karate to all things. Therein lies its beauty.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

11. “Always be ready to release your mind.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

12. “Karate-do begins with courtesy and ends with rei.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

13. “Don’t pretend to be a great master and don’t try to show off your strength.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

14. “When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

15. “To search for the old is to understand the new.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

16. “You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning karate is not very different from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

17. “Success, cannot be attained alone. Any person’s time and power is limited. A wise leader enlists others in working toward organizational goals.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

18. “When you look at life think in terms of karate. But remember that karate is not only karate – it is life.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

19. “Inner mental technique is more important than the physical one.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

20. “Karate is like boiling water: without heat, it returns to it’s tepid state.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

21. “It is important that karate can be practiced by the young and old, men and women alike.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

22. “Karate-do strives internally to train the mind to develop a clear conscience, enabling one to face the world honestly, while externally developing strength to the point where one may overcome even ferocious wild animals. Mind and technique become one in true karate.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

23. “Students of any art, including Karate-do must never forget the cultivation of the mind and the body.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

24. “No matter how you may excel in the art of Karate, and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and your humanity as observed in daily life.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

25. “Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

26. “You must ignore the bad and adopt the good.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

27. “You must be deadly serious in training. When I say that, I do not mean that you should be reasonably diligent or moderately in earnest. I mean that your opponent must always be present in your mind, whether you sit or stand or walk or raise your arms.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

28. “Since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

29. “In the past, it was expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know three, or at most five, kata.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

30. “True karate is this: that in daily life one’s mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

31. “Once a kata has been learned, it must be practised repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a kata in karate is useless.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

32. “Beginners must master low stance and posture, natural body positions are for the advanced.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

33. “Remember that you must always have a deep regard for courtesy, and you must be respectful and obedient toward your seniors.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

34. “The secret principle of martial arts is not vanquishing the attacker, but resolving to avoid an encounter before its occurrence. To become an object of an attack is an indication that there was an opening in one’s guard, and the important thing is to be on guard at all times.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

35. “Only a true weakling is capable of true courage.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

36. “In time of grave public crisis, one must have the courage to face a million and one opponents.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

37. “One of the most striking features of karate is that it may be engaged in by anybody, young or old, strong or weak, male or female.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

38. “Karate is a technique that permits one to defend himself with his bare hands and fists without weapons.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

39. “When you are learning a new technique, practice it wholeheartedly until you truly understand it.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

40. “Any man will be able, after sufficient practice, to accomplish remarkable feats of strength, but he may go only so far and no farther. There is a limit to human physical strength that no one can exceed.”

— Gichin Funakoshi

41. “Try to do exactly as you are taught without complaining or quibbling.”

— Gichin Funakoshi