Top 100 Yamamoto Tsunetomo Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “By being impatient, matters are damaged and great works cannot be done.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

52. “The heart of a virtuous person has settled down and he does not rush about at things. A person of little merit is not at peace but walks about making trouble and is in conflict with all.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

53. “Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

56. “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.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

57. “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

58. “It is spiritless to think that you cannot attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. If you think that you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

59. “Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

60. “Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, “This is not enough.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

61. “One should be wary of talking on end about such subjects as learning, morality or folklore in front of elders or people of rank. It is disagreeable to listen to.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

62. “Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

63. “It is difficult for a fool’s habits to change to selflessness.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

64. “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.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

65. “There are few people who will make mistakes with fire after having once been burned.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

66. “An affected laugh shows lack of self-respect in a man and lewdness in a woman. It is carelessness to go about with one’s hands inside the slits in the sides of his hakama.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

67. “All of man’s work is a bloody business. That fact, today, is considered foolish, affairs are finished cleverly with words alone, and jobs that require effort are avoided. I would like young men to have some understanding of this.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

68. “Tether even a roasted chicken.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

69. “There is not a man who does not get senile by the time he reaches sixty. And when one thinks that he will not be senile, he is already so.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

70. “In a 50-50 life or death crisis, choose death.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

71. “At times because of one man’s evil, ten thousand people suffer. So you kill that one man to let the tens of thousands live. Here, truly, the blade that deals death becomes the sword that saves lives.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

72. “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.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

73. “The saying ‘the arts aid the body’ is for samurai of other regions. For samurai of the Nabeshima clan the arts bring ruin to the body.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

74. “Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

75. “It is not sufficient just to remain calm in the event of catastrophe or emergency. When challenged by adversity, charge onwards with courage and jubilation. This is rising to a higher level. It is like the saying, “The more water there is, the higher the boat rises.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

76. “It is said that what is called “the spirit of an age” is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world’s coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today’s world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

77. “When delivering something like an important letter or other written materials, grasp it firmly in your hand as you go and do not release it once, but hand it over directly to the recipient.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

78. “As long as people overlook matters, then inferiors can, without any fear, lead an easy and peaceful life.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

79. “In offering one’s opinion, one must first ascertain whether or not the recipient is in the right frame of mind to receive counsel.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

80. “Imitating another style is simply a sham.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

81. “If one is but secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation. But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one’s way of doing things are found in trivial matters.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

82. “I do not know how to defeat others. All I know is the path to defeat myself. Today one must be better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. The pursuit of perfection is a lifelong quest that has no end.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

83. “If one does not get it into his head from the very beginning that the world is full of unseemly situations, for the most part his demeanour will be poor and he will not be believed by others.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

84. “Victory and defeat are matters of the temporary force of circumstances. The way of avoiding shame is different. It is simply in death.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

85. “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

86. “Learning is a good thing, but more often it leads to mistakes. It is like the admonition of the priest Konan. It is worthwhile just looking at the deeds of accomplished persons for the purpose of knowing our own insufficiencies. But often this does not happen. For the most part, we admire our own opinions and become fond of arguing.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

87. “If you are unaware that the world is teeming with ineptitude from the beginning, you will develop a bitter countenance, and in turn others will eschew you.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

88. “Personally, I like to sleep. And I intend to appropriately confine myself more and more to my living quarters and pass my life away sleeping.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

89. “In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing .”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

90. “It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. It is the same for anything that is called a Way. Therefore, it is inconsistent to hear something of the Way of Confucius or the Way of the Buddha, and say that this is the Way of the Samurai. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all Ways and be more and more in accord with his own.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

91. “If one has no earnest daily intention, does not consider what it is to be a warrior even in his dreams, and lives through the day idly, he can be said to be worthy of punishment.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

92. “It is bad to carry even a good thing too far. Even concerning things such as Buddhism, Buddhist sermons, and moral lessons, talking too much will bring harm.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

93. “No matter if the enemy has thousands of men, there is fulfillment in simply standing them off and being determined to cut them all down, starting from one end.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

94. “One should every day think over and make an effort to implant in his mind the saying, “At that time is right now.” It is said that it is strange indeed that anyone is able to pass through life by one means or another in negligence.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

95. “If one is secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

96. “Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

97. “The condition of a person is revealed by his dreams. It would be good to make companions of your dreams and to put forth effort.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

98. “Feeling deeply the difference between oneself and others, bearing ill will, and falling out with people – these things come from a heart that lacks compassion. If one wraps up everything with a heart of compasion, there will be no coming into conflict with people.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

99. “Living without mistakes is truly impossible. But this is something that people who live by cleverness have no inclination to think about.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

100. “To think that being righteous is the best one can do and to do one’s utmost to be righteous will, on the contrary, bring many mistakes. The Way is in a higher place than righteousness. This is very difficult to discover, but it is the highest wisdom. When seen from this standpoint, things like righteousness are rather shallow. If one does not understand this on his own, it cannot be known.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo