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"The infinitude of Jiu Jitsu allows for the infinitude of the types of practitioners. There exists a game for each and every one of us which is specifically possible within the confines of our particular skill set."
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"Not many abilities are inherent. Most are acquired through patient practice, and those that are inherent are enhanced and utilized through practice too."

"I learnt the theory of movement, which I still teach sometimes. I was very, very ambitious to learn a skill."

"Any fool can do something cool and look cool, but it takes skill to make something uncool cool again."

"I worked with such concentration and focus and I had hundreds of obscure engineering or programming things in my head. I was just real exceptional in that way."

"You can only write well, what you have experienced."

"I have had an aversion to good spelling for sixty years and more, merely for the reason that when I was a boy there was not a thing I could do creditably except spell according to the book. It was a poor and mean distinction, and I early learned to disenjoy it. I suppose that this is because the ability to spell correctly is a talent, not an acquirement. There is some dignity about an acquirement, because it is a product of your own labor. It is earned, whereas to be able to do a thing merely by the grace of God, and not by your own effort, transfers the thing to our heavenly home--where possibly it is a matter of pride and satisfaction, but it leaves you naked and bankrupt."
Explore more quotes by Chris Matakas

"The quality of your life is directly proportional to the positive effect you have on others' lives."

"For the sincere student, it mustn't be enough to simply understand Jiu Jitsu. We must seek to understand ourselves."

"Deep down I believe each of us is a well-spring of understanding and wisdom, but we simply never allow the space or time for this understanding to rise to the level of conscious thought."

"To know our values is to have a foundation on which to build a great life. Our environment and education will play a large part in influencing our formulation of this world view, but is ultimately ourselves that have the final say. We must decide what we value, and then live accordingly. After all, in the eyes of the world we could achieve great success, but if our actions do not coincide with what we ourselves truly deem worthy, we will find no peace."

"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."

"If nothing lasts then everything has meaning. If everything dies that means we actually live."

"Relationships formed through Jiu Jitsu are deeply rooted in respect for one another, and this is often not the case in matters of modern society."

"Jiu Jitsu is a baptism by combat, and serves a purpose in the inner life of the individual that has always existed, but our modern culture fails to acknowledge."
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