"I would more appropriately define mastery as the technical ability possible within the constraints of your particular existence. It must be noted that this is a subjective definition, and that this degree of mastery would be individual to each of us."

"Have a clear-cut plan on what you wish to improve, and seek opportunities to improve it. The more conscious and honest we can be about our shortcomings, the more strength we will have to improve them. We are going to train hard anyway, we are not going to sweat any more or less. It is simply imperative that the sweat is properly directed."

"I have seen far by seeing through the lens of Jiu Jitsu. I have exchanged a great deal of physical health for these insights, and these were trades worth making. My efforts were worth the return. I have sacrificed much in the name of this craft. Not for trophies or belts or prestige. For these fall away like dust. I pursued this art so fervently because it was not actually Jiu Jitsu I pursued. It was myself."

"Jiu Jitsu can be a source of total transparency such as a mirror, but it takes a conscious choice to see what it has to say."

"When you realize you are no longer made of glass, you lose the desire to demonstrate that fragility in others."

"A saw by itself holds no value, but when coupled with your labor can clear forests."

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

"Life is easier lived when lived for others."

"There are no trophies for the real victories in life."

"Self-improvement is generally a removal of a vice rather than an acquisition of a virtue."

"The day-to-day grind of adult life brings with it a tedium that weighs heavily on our powers of attention. The same experiences, at the same time and place, day in and day out, breed a familiarity that blunts our senses."

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

"You have been blessed to stand on the shoulders of giants. Make sure that someone stands on yours as well. This is the only way of human progress."

"The beautiful truth about service is that we are afforded countless opportunities to be its vehicle. Every interaction with another is an opportunity to serve. From simply letting someone into your lane in traffic, to holding a door, to a kind smile. This is all service. I am humbled by this simple truth. We are given the opportunity to express the most meaningful use of our lives every time we interact with another sentient being."

"There is an undeniable truth that as one progresses further in his understanding of a craft the rest of his life progresses along with it. This symbiotic relationship between all things is experienced on a daily basis, but rarely articulated through conscious thought."

"It is only when we admit our ignorance that we can hope to overcome it."

"Who you are as a person far outweighs what you do in an athletic arena."

"Jiu Jitsu provides a place of fellowship that, unfortunately, our society has largely failed to create."

"We are just too busy trying to appear smart to realize how intelligent we actually are."

"This constant mental diatribe and the frustrations, worries, insecurities and muscular tension that ensues are the self."

"If something's existence is contingent upon the existence of another entity, can we truthfully call them separate beings?"

"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."

"In my own life, I have always viewed personal mastery as simply a medium through which I become capable of providing more service toward my fellow man."

"Everyone, no matter how historically famous or modernly praised, has no idea about the ultimate truth of what it means to be human."

"You are the space in which these thoughts arise, but not the thoughts themselves."

"Devoting yourself to a particular art is invaluable. The art becomes our vehicle with which we drive down the road of life. We use this vehicle to learn about ourselves and this place, to conquer fears, to become more of what we already are. In my own life, I have found most valuable the transferable skills of learning from jiu jitsu to all other facets of day to day study. In devoting myself with such commitment to this art, in undertaking the task of understanding jiu jitsu to whatever degree by circumstance allows, I have unknowingly learned how to learn."

"Every opportunity with another was an opportunity to serve my fellow man. Every moment alone was a chance to grow and become more of who I already was. I instantly felt how great a life could be, and that was only made possible by service toward others."

"I have always found that effort is most easily produced when performed for the benefit of something external to ourselves."

"For many of us, especially being so fortunate to live in a first-world country, the vast majority of pain we experience is due to the seriousness with which we identify with our thoughts."

"The more we have outside ourselves the harder it is to get inside ourselves."

"The best yardstick for our progress is not other people, but ourselves. Am I better than I was yesterday? This is the only question worth asking. As long as you go to bed at night a better practitioner than the one who woke up that morning, you have succeeded. Your worth should have nothing to do with how your progress stacks up relative to another."

"Your potential for growth is directly proportionate to the degree to which you are willing to make mistakes."

"As an instructor, my goal has always been to use Jiu Jitsu as a vehicle to help our students achieve their goals, whatever the case may be. I have yet to find a better vehicle for growth, and the moment I do I will certainly pursue it with the rivaled fervor that I approached Jiu Jitsu."

"He plays the same game, but for the first time in his life he is truly playing, rather than working, being a human, and this is a vast distinction realized by few."

"It is important to realize that we so often define ourselves by what is in opposition to ourselves."

"We can lose the roll, we can lose position, but we can constantly strive to win the moment."

"I have found the more worthwhile something is, the more of your life is required to achieve it."

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

"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."

"Quotes tell a story. A stringing together of a few words can leave you with an idea that changes the course of your life, and can direct you toward reaching your highest potential as a human. The story they tell is derived from the experience which inspired them, and it is our sharing that experience that allows for the quote to resonate so deeply within our being."

"Do not seek victory, for victory in itself will not serve you. Seek to understand what made the victory possible."

"The most fulfilled among us are those who serve others."

"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."

"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."

"In Jiu Jitsu, we often fall into the trap of simply trying a technique "harder," rather than recognizing that it is a poorly chosen tool for the task at hand."

"All these men recognized what they themselves valued, and lived according to these values regardless of their relationship to the values of their community. Each lived according to what brought them happiness and peace rather than commonplace prescriptions of the multitudes."

"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."

"True mastery, it turns out, is not found in accumulating each and every tool under the sun. True mastery is learning that there are really only a handful of tools, and it is the proper application with correct timing and setting that makes them so useful."

"After I received my blue belt, I soon recognized that the belts were simply an external representation of an inner experience, and that they mattered little compared to the person I was becoming."

"I can think of no more worthwhile aim than pursuing mastery in this craft while transcending one's own limitations."