"There is no more valuable skill than studentship. The farther we go down one area of human understanding, the more we see the corollaries that all activities share. Everything I do for the rest of my life, all the skills I acquire, will be made possible because of my time spent on the mats. It has revealed a symbiosis between all things that I never knew existed."

"The high-minded pursuit of a Jiu Jitsu practitioner pursuing mastery cannot coexist well with the modern world. Our values vary immensely from our contemporaries. This pursuit leaves societal norms slaughtered in our wake. Those who share this journey will praise our efforts, those in the hive will think we have lost it. We must be willing to be misunderstood if we are to understand ourselves."

"The more specifically you define your goals the more attainable they become."

"By becoming a black belt, you will become whatever it is you wanted to be in the first place, and Jiu Jitsu will have served its aim."

"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."

"I train jiu jitsu because I love jiu jitsu. But I also train knowing that my practice in this art will allow me better practice in any art. If you have learned one thing, you have learned all things, because you have learned how to learn. I can think of no more worthwhile pursuit of education."

"The best indicator of a man's philosophy is not what he reads or says, but the way in which he lives his life, the way in which he acts."

"I am acutely aware that all I have been able to achieve has been in large part due to circumstances outside my control. This is why I teach, and this is why I write. I want to be one of those opportunities for others. Perhaps this is the true measure of success."

"I believe the devil exists in those little, seemingly unnoticeable moments when we choose to value our own insecurities over the service of others."

"Today's world is flooded with participation trophies. In an attempt to promote equality we have robbed our youth of the most growth-inducing aspect of competition, failing. If you want to be resurrected, you have to first be crucified. Everybody wants to be reborn, but no one is willing to die. Losing, in the context of whatever arena it may be, is a microcosmic death. When we learn from our failures and grow because of them, we are reborn."

"I wanted to get to the most essential aspect of my being, and look around for a while. I wanted to explore what I am in my most basic self. I wanted to chip away at all of the nonsense I have acquired through my twenty-nine years on this earth. I wanted to find truth. Thoreau went to the woods. I went to the mats. Jiu Jitsu has peeled the veil of daily life, and has shown me what lies beyond the curtain. We willingly accept the chains that circumstance forces upon us, and we grow to find comfort in them. We attach various fetters of day-to-day living to our being, and we do so with a smile. We accept these constraints for they come in the way of comfort. We accept conformity for it appears the path of least resistance. We strive toward the middle, and we run from ourselves."

"Freedom from the thinking mind is our underlying goal for most of human activity."

"Life is so unlikely, so rare and beautiful an opportunity it is to live, we must be on constant guard to ensure that our actions are worthy of the life it takes to perform them."

"I have never been as alive or awake as I have been through Jiu Jitsu."

"The knowledge you acquire in an area of study is accompanied by an incalculable ignorance. The farther we get into anything, we learn that we have even farther to go."

"This philosophy teaches us to leave safe harbor for the rough seas of real-world experience, and to accept that a rough copy out in the world serves us far greater than a masterpiece sitting quietly on our shelves."

"Anyone who has ever achieved anything has been a steward of his potential."

"Jiu Jitsu has shown me that we are not confined to the lot which we inherit. We are not bound to these fetters eternally. They are temporal. We can transcend them should we sincerely choose to. Sincere effort is in fact the rarest virtue among man."

"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."

"We are the estranged orphans of our nations and tribes, and we now bear the weight not of survival of the group but of personal identity."

"I am a better son, brother, friend, and teacher because of the daily sacrifice and effort I put toward my craft. WIth all the advantages modern society has created, it has left us wanting. We no longer need to struggle to survive. Our basic needs are now met with minimal physical strife or mental challenge. Technology and the advances of man have left us over-stressed and under-performing. 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."

"Constantly re-evaluating your purpose is the best way to ensure that you are pursuing the goals of who you are and not who you used to be."

"The more closely two organisms depend upon each other the harder it becomes to tell where one organism ends and the other begins."

"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."

"Anyone can be tough for a season. It takes a special kind of human to rise to life's challenges for a lifetime."

"I believe that which you study is only matched in importance by the sincerity with which you approach it."

"We must strive to become more daily. We must honestly assess our weaknesses and overcome them. We must work toward the highest possible version of ourselves. This is a worthy use of our time, but it is only when we do so with the ultimate aim of service to our fellow man that we really connect with something greater than ourselves. To contribute to the world in a positive way, this is the gift of life."

"Our most valuable victories are those which go without praise."

"An intelligent consistency is the foundation of genius."

"The most meaningful endeavors are the ones that come without an end."

"We can either approach Jiu Jitsu through the lens of the "real world" or we can approach the real world through the lens of Jiu Jitsu. I have found the latter to be far more rewarding."

"Your progress as a Jiu Jitsu practitioner is a direct reflection of the standards you have for yourself."

"An arm bar in a vacuum is worthless. It is the realization of the truths which constitute that arm bar that is the real treasure we seek."

"We see that happiness is not comfort. Happiness is the freedom to choose one's own way."

"Jiu Jitsu gives each of us something that no other sport can. We have the opportunity to become truly great regardless of what circumstance fate has handed us. We have complete freedom and responsibility to achieve whatever level of mastery we wish."

"Mastery does not exist."

"There is no higher calling than the service of your fellow man, and to do so through your own personal mastery of a craft is a gift enjoyed by few."

"Thoreau went to the woods. I went to the mats."

"I believe it is the responsibility of each of us to pass on whatever we have learned in our time here. If I reach enlightenment after meditating in a cave for 10 years, but do not pass on this teaching and it dies with me, this was a wasted life. I believe we are here to help one another, and each of us has a unique wisdom that we should do our best to convey to others."

"The rare opportunity to exist, no matter how brief, is worth the pain left in the wake of its disappearance."

"I believe the real reason we pursue anything in life is not for the thing itself, but for who we become on the way to its accomplishment. We strive to accomplish things in the attempt to mold ourselves. The greatest benefits Jiu Jitsu will have in your life will have nothing to do with Jiu Jitsu. It is this simple understanding that allows me to persist in my study. Even on the rare days when I may not have a burning desire to practice Jiu Jitsu, I am reminded that my practicing Jiu Jitsu is more accurately my practicing to become a better human being. The lessons I learn on the mat will serve me in every area of life-- personal development, relationships, business, and the like."

"Do not get caught pursuing the goals of who you used to be instead of who you are."

"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."

"If we do not master ourselves, we will be a slave to ourselves."

"Life is always easier when lived for others, and living for others is the best way I know to live for yourself."

"Habits are infinitely more beneficial to the aspiring student than motivation. Motivation may get you started, but habits keep you going."

"We must remember that the end of personal mastery is service to others."

"Our social contract is becoming an exchange of free thought for mindless stimuli."

"In the present moment, no past achievement has any bearing, but we perpetually bring ourselves into the here and now; we are our constant companion. By carving the ineffable nature of my soul, rather than simply pursuing the "W," I am able to bring all of my past accomplishments with me into the present. They do hold bearing on today, not because of what I have done, but because of who I have become. This is what matters."

"We have an obligation to ourselves to foster the environment that allows for our self-actualization. Rather than my gifts serving me, I must serve them. I want to be a steward of the best aspects of my character and assist them in their fulfillment through proper discipline and habits."