60+ Inspiring Karate Quotes For Martial Art Lovers By Karate Masters

Karate Quotes

Karate is a form of Martial arts developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It uses using kicking, punching, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and other kinds of defense styles.

Majority of people pursue karate only for its fighting techniques but Karate helps to build confidence and overcome fear in one’s self

Here are some of the best Karate Quotes that will inspire you to take it up as a sport, for fun, or for self-defense.

If you like what you read, check out Karate Kid Quotes, Martial Arts Quotes, Bruce Lee Quotes, Taekwondo Quotes and Mr. Miyagi’s Quotes

Famous Karate Quotes By Karate Masters

Here we have the best Karate quotes from Karate masters like Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate, Hironori Otsuka, founder of Wadō-ryū style of karate or Gichin Funakoshi quotes, the founder of Shotokan karate-do.

• “If you don’t overcome your tendency to give up easily, your life will lead to nothing.” – Mas Oyama
• “It is important to alter the form of the trained kata without hesitation to produce countless other forms of training.” – Hironori Otsuka
• “Karate is a defensive art from beginning to end.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Karate ultimately produces in the individual a vital concentration of energy that expands to heroic proportions in times of crisis.” – Shoshin Nagamine
• “The heart of our karate is real fighting. There can be no proof without real fighting. Without proof, there is no trust. Without trust there is no respect. This is a definition in the world of martial arts.” – Mas Oyama
• “Train with both heart and soul without worrying about theory.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “If you observed 100 matches, you would see that probably nine out of 10 are won by the person in better shape.” – Joe Lewis
• “The Way to find courage is to seek it on the field of conflict. And the sure way to victory is willingness to risk one’s own life.” – Mas Oyama
• “The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “You don’t have to be flashy. You have to be fundamental.” – Joe Lewis

Inspirational Karate Quotes

Karate is about training the body and mind. Here are some karate training quotes to keep you motivated and inspired.

• “Karate is not about techniques and their execution, but about boldness, integrity and fight for justice and common good.” – Soke Behzad Ahmadi
• “The purpose of Karate is to guide you out of trouble by any means necessary, both in actual combat and in life.” – Soke Behzad Ahmadi
• “Karate is not about winning over others. It is about winning over one’s self.” – David Walker
• “Karate may be referred to as the conflict within yourself, or a life-long marathon which can be won only through self-discipline, hard training, and your own creative efforts.” – Shoshin Nagamine (founder of Matsubayashi-ryu Karate)
• “Karate-do is definitely a martial way, and its identity lies in do or principles. Any martial art without proper training of the mind turns into beastly behavior.” – Shoshin Nagamine
• “Karate has no philosophy. Some people think that the tradition of Karate came from Buddhism and Karate has a connection with the absolute, space and universe, but I don’t believe in that. My philosophy is to knock my opponent out, due to the use of only one technique. One finishing blow!” – Mikio Yahara (former Japanese World Cup Champion, known for single-handedly defeating 34 local gangsters (yakuza), knocking out a mobster with a gun, and turning up for a competition with a knife wound.)
• “True Martial Arts is universal, simple and practical. Anything else is too complex to be used in combat.” – Soke Behzad Ahmadi
• “Karate aims to build character, improve human behavior, and cultivate modesty; it does not, however, guarantee it.” – Yasuhiro Konishi (founder of Shindo Jinen-ryu Karate)
• “You are what your teacher is, and if he knows a lot, you should be able to demonstrate this knowledge.” – Yuchoku Higa
• “Karate is like boiling water, if you do not heat it constantly, it will cool.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Never depart from the way of martial arts.” – Miyamoto Musashi
• “The more understanding you have about Karate, the less you need to change or modify it.” – Tsuguo Sakumoto (former World Karate Champion and master of Ryuei-ryu Karate)
• “Many Karate teachers teach a watered-down style – no hip action and no depth of punching – so it is easy to say that these teachers have no depth to their knowledge. You are what your teacher is, and if he knows a lot, you should be able to demonstrate this knowledge.” – Yuchoku Higa (founder of Kyudokan Dojo, Okinawa)
• “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 (founder of Shotokan Karate)
• “To all those whose progress remains hampered by ego-related distractions, let humility – the spiritual cornerstone upon which Karate rests – serve to remind one to place virtue before vice, values before vanity and principles before personalities.” – Sokon ‘Bushi’ Matsumura (legendary Karate grandmaster)
• “Once a kata has been learned, it must be practiced repeatedly until it can be applied in an emergency, for knowledge of just the sequence of a form in Karate is useless.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “A kata is not fixed or immoveable. Like water, it’s ever changing and fits itself to the shape of the vessel containing it. However, kata are not some kind of beautiful competitive dance, but a grand martial art of self-defense – which determines life and death.” – Kenwa Mabuni (founder of Shito-ryu Karate)
• “In the old days we trained Karate as a martial art, but now they train Karate as a gymnastic sport. I think we must avoid treating Karate as a sport – it must be a martial art at all times! Your fingers and the tips of your toes must be like arrows, your arms must be like iron. You have to think that if you kick, you try to kick the enemy dead. If you punch, you must thrust to kill. If you strike, then you strike to kill the enemy. This is the spirit you need in order to progress in your training.” – Choshin Chibana (founder of Kobayashi Shorin-ryu Karate)
• “We should open Karate to the public and receive criticism, opinions and studies from other prominent fighting artists.” – Chojun Miyagi (founder of Goju-ryu Karate)
• “Nothing is more harmful to the world than a martial art that is not effective in actual self-defense.” – Choki Motobu (founder of Motobu-ryu Kempo and notorious Okinawan Karate street-fighter)
• “My old ways of Karate was not readily accepted by everyone. They thought it was too outdated and too crude – I think it was just too hard or maybe my training methods were too severe. Whatever it was, it was the way I learned and the way I taught. It was only later, when the Americans came to learn, that I changed my ways.” – Hohan Soken (founder of Matsumura Seito Shorin-ryu Karate)
• “It is necessary to drink alcohol and pursue other fun human activities. The art (Karate) of someone who is too serious has no flavor.” – Choki Motobu
• “Recently, some Karate men have used funny and strange sounding names for their own styles of Karate. A Karate man of this kind does not have a real understanding or knowledge of the orthodox Karate or he has no confidence in his ability as a Karate man. He uses these funny sounding names for his own style of Karate as an evasive answer when he has a hard time demonstrating a very difficult technique or even an incomplete one. […] Karate does not have any one style. Karate molds an individual to be the only object of defense or offense and, through this, it teaches the fundamental concept of self-protection.” – Kanken Toyama (founder of Shudokan Karate)
• “A student well versed in even one technique will naturally see corresponding points in other techniques. A upper level punch, a lower punch, a front punch and a reverse punch are all essentially the same. Looking over thirty-odd kata, he should be able to see that they are essentially variations on just a handful.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Our teachers did not give us a clear explanation of the kata from old times. I must find the features and meaning of each form by my own study and effort, by repeating the exercises of form through training.” – Tsuyoshi Chitose (founder of Chito-ryu Karate)
• “Even in the forty years that I have been practicing Karate, the changes have been many. It would be interesting to be able to go back in time, to the point when the kata were created, and study them.” – Shigeru Egami (founder of Shotokai Karate)
• “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.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Do not fall into the trap of thinking that just because a kata begins to the left that the opponent is attacking from the left.” – Kenwa Mabuni
• “Spirit first, technique second.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Whatever luck I had, I made. I was never a natural athlete, but I paid my dues in sweat and concentration and took the time necessary to learn Karate and become World Champion.” – Chuck Norris (American martial artist and actor. Also, the only man who has counted to infinity. Twice.)
• “Karate cannot be adequately learned in a short space of time. Like a torpid bull, regardless of how slowly it moves, it will eventually cover a thousand miles. So too, for one who resolves to study Karate diligently two or three hours every day. After three or four years of unremitting effort one’s body will undergo a great transformation revealing the very essence of Karate.” – Anko Itosu (the grandfather of modern Karate)
• “A punch should stay like a treasure in the sleeve. It should not be used indiscrimately.” – Chotoku Kyan (pioneer of Shorin-ryu Karate)
• “Karate is a very boring sport, but when you know the technique you can go further and further.” – Jean-Claude Van Damme (Belgian-American martial artist and actor)
• “The techniques of kata have their limits and were never intended to be used against an opponent in an arena or on a battlefield.” – Choki Motobu
• “No matter how you excel in the art of “Ti” (Okinawan precursor to Karate), and in your scholastic endeavors, nothing is more important than your behavior and humanity as observed in daily life.” – Junsoku Uekata (Confucian scholar), written in 1683!
• “All kata use the so-called postures (kamae). In fact, there are many kinds of postures and many kinds of kata. While learning these postures should not be totally ignored, we must be careful not to overlook that they are just forms or templates of sort; it is the function of their application which needs to be mastered.” – Choki Motobu
• “The ultimate goal in Karate is to defeat opponents in a real life-or-death situation” – Teruyuki Higa (pioneer of Okinawan Kempo Karate in USA)
• “There is no place in contemporary Karate for different schools. Some instructors, I know, claim to have invented new and unusual kata, and so they arrogate to themselves the right to be called founders of “schools”. Indeed, I have heard myself and my colleagues referred to as the Shotokan school, but I strongly object to this attempt at classification. My belief is that all these “schools” should be amalgamated into one, so that Karate may orderly progress into man’s future.” – Gichin Funakoshi
• “Karate is a lifetime study.” – Kenwa Mabuni

Quotes From Movies About Karate

Here are some of the most iconic Karate Quotes by  Karate Masters in some of your favorite movies like the Ip Man and many more.

• “I haven’t always made an honest living, I admit that. But take a good, hard look at yourselves. You are not so different. You lie, you cheat, you exploit. Are you willing to admit that? I didn’t think so.” – Tso Ngan Kwan, ‘Cheung Tin-Chi’, 2018.
• “Self-confidence is the most important thing, no matter where you are.” – Ip Man, ‘Ip Man 4’, 2019.
• “The world isn’t fair but moral standards apply to us all […] The world doesn’t belong to the rich, or even the powerful, but to those of pure heart.” – Ip Man, ‘Ip Man 3’, 2015.
• “Ip Man: Wing Chun is a close combat style from the South…

Wong Shun Leung: No need to tell me all this. Let’s just fight. I’ll pay you the school fees if I lose.

Ip Man: Ok. I am Ip Man of Wing Chun.” – ‘Ip Man 2’, 2010.

• “Miura: [after witnessing Ip Man single-handedly defeat ten Japanese fighters at once] What’s your name?

Ip Man: I’m just a Chinese man.” – ‘Ip Man’, 2008.

• “I thought I could put martial arts behind me. But deep down, I know I never could. Those of us who fight never understood the true meaning of martial arts.” – Cheung Tin-chi, ‘Cheung Tin-Chi’, 2018.
• “In the face of injustice, I must stand up and fight. That was why we took up martial arts. This is something I very much want to do. Just as you want to cheerleading.” – Ip Man, ‘Ip Man 4’, 2019.
• “Why’d God make women pretty but dumb? They’re pretty, so men will like them. They’re dumb, so they will like men.” – Cheung Wing-sing, ‘Ip Man 3’, 2015.
• “Wong Leung: Master, do you think you can fight off 10 men?

Ip man: The best thing is not to fight at all.” – ‘Ip Man 2’, 2010.

• “Captain Lei Chiu: Why am I a traitor? Their deaths have got nothing to do with me. I’m just an interpreter. I need to scrape a living too!

Ip Man: Scrape a living? You watch your countrymen get beaten to death. Where’s your dignity?” – ‘Ip Man’, 2008.

Conclusion

Hope you love these Karate Quotes. Please let me know in the comment which one you love most. Check out Bruce Lee Quotes and Martial Arts Quotes