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If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly.

— Morihei Ueshiba Budo (1938)

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Nature

More quotes by Morihei Ueshiba

Shihonage is the foundation of Aikido. All you ever need to master is shihonage.

True Budo is to accept the spirit of the universe, keep the peace of the world, correctly produce, protect and cultivate all beings in nature.

Always imagine yourself on the battlefield under the fiercest attack; never forget this crucial element of training.

Budo (1938)

Regarding technique, from ancient times it has been said that movements must fly like lightning and attacks must strike like thunder.

Budo (1938)

The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter — it is the Art of Peace, the power of love.

All Morihei Ueshiba quotes →

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Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Morihei Ueshiba (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.