My sifu, called The Ancient One, taught us:

"Respect is a necessary part of human relationships. It helps people get along in a manner that is beneficial to all. HOWEVER, your honor is 'true honor' only when you can act with honor while you are being dishonored!"

"If you feed a troll, he will eat what you feed him!"

"He who is 'up front', often misses the backdoor....and you don't want to miss the backdoor!!!"

"It is interesting where your mind goes of its own accord. Is the origin of this question my lesson or is it your own mind?"

"Honor that is recognized as honorable is not honor. Honor that is not recognized as honorable is true honor!"

"A world without Yin is a world without Yang, which is no world at all!"

"Even a naked man at a masquerade wears a costume."

"Even if others believe they know what they know, they seldom know what they don't know. But if they know that knowing is the problem, they will stop trying to know. This person truly knows, As long as he doesn't know he knows! For, once he knows he knows, he will no longer know he doesn't know, no matter how much he knows!"

"A costume is a costume even if you don't know it's a costume!"

"If you know your nakedness is a costume, it's still a costume!"

"The costume others see, is not the same costume you see!"

"Nudism is just another costume!"

"Even if you wear no costume, others will create one for you!"

"If a vegetarian colony has a butcher, there is costume confusion occurring!"

"A man who thinks he is a Master of anything is Master of nothing!"

"ANYTIME is peanut butter and jelly time!"

"You should see the BM's I'm having!"

"Don't listen to a word Lucas says, unless he says something else, then weigh it against a downy feather! Whichever is weightier is the truth!"

"In the face of the injustice of justice, Just ICE it!" I did, and the pain subsided with the swelling!

"He who can be easily hypnotized, is already hypnotized!"

"Once you are banned, there are NO options!"

"In life you can be smart, or you can be pleasant! I've been smart, but I recommend pleasant!"

"HATE is just a Hat with an 'E' on the end. If you remove the 'E' all that remains is a hat!" Then he doffed his chapeau and walked away!

"Honor that must be defended using violence is not honor, it is narcissism!"

"Your honor is 'true honor' only when you can act with honor while you are being dishonored!"

"The one who recognizes neither Truths nor lies is burdened with neither and accrues no karma for either."

"Respect those with admirable qualities, love those without!"

"People ridicule what they do not understand, because ridicule is easier than thinking!"

"He who looks for something to last, will always be last!"

"Instead of avoiding understanding, seek to understand your avoidance!"

"To not see wisdom as wisdom is unwise!"

"Instead of looking for the joke, look for the wisdom!"

"Wisdom disguised is still wisdom!"

"If you try to make people laugh and they are not laughing, you are not funny, but if people do not laugh when you are not trying to be funny, then you have succeeded in making people not laugh!"

"If you always search for a reason for what you do not understand, you will be burdened by not-understanding. But if you accept what you do not understand as not-understanding, you will not be burdened with not understanding!"

"Sometimes nonsense means something and meaningful things are nonsense!"

"Just because you do not like the answer to a question does not mean it was not answered!"

"Cause and Effect occurs within your own mind! If you do not understand the Effect, look inside your mind for the Cause!"

"He who seeks to be a Master, must understand what he seeks is not found where he is seeking!"

“If you refuse to eat because you do not like what kind of plate the food is served upon, you will not get the food you need to sustain you!”

"The Bee does not take advice from the wasp on how to make honey!"

"The Sun does not take advice from the Moon on how to shine!"

"There are neither hard questions nor hard answers, just questions we don't know, and answers we don't like!"

"If you seek to be a Master you will never succeed!"

"Why do you seek to be a Master when you do not know what a Master is?"

"If you do not seek to be a Master, you MAY eventually become one, but, if you think of yourself as a Master, you are not!"

"How can a student call their teacher a Master, when they do not know what a Master is! It is like a child"s chocolate gold coin. The child pretends it is a real gold coin, but that does not make it a real gold coin. Pretending something is so, does not make it so and when the chocolate melts all you are left with is a mess!"

"What most people refer to as a Master is merely an expert!

Do not waste your time seeking to become a Master, if you do, you are ruled by your fantasies and might as well chase rainbows!"

"If you are ruled what you find to be erotic, you are ruled by your groin, not your mind or spirit. If that is your path, that is your path, but it is not mine.

"All actions have consequences, if you don't like the consequences don't do the action!"

"If you have to fight to win, you have already lost! If you win by not fighting, you will never lose!"

"Your honor cannot be taken from you, but you may give it up!"

"He who follows the tiger, will get eaten!"

"The idea of "Master" is a false construct. It begins with a pretend concept that individuals make up out of their own mind, then they attempt to conform themselves to this false idea. Then they call themselves a "Master" when they are able conform to an idea that sprang from their own mind in the first place. And finally, they encourage others to accept their fantasy in order to support their own delusion! It is as close to pretending as any two year old pretending to be a Super Hero!"

"It is a circular creation. I create the idea, I conform to the idea, I think I am the idea, then I convince others of the reality of my idea. But it is all still a false idea, a pretend!"

"Fools are a dime a dozen, just ask any fool!"

"An intelligent person does not need to be told he is intelligent!"

"One man's expert is another person's buffoon!"

"There is no honor when man of superior strength needlessly harms a man of weakness. It demonstrates the man of superior strength to be a man of inferior character. Do not emulate these little men or you will become a little man yourself!"

"Fantasies of power are created by the weak in order to help them feel as if they are strong, but they are still weak. Have compassion, they are like frightened little rabbits!"

"Ask a Fool a foolish question and people will wonder who is the fool?"

"When you ask a liar for the Truth, how will you know whether his reply is the Truth or a Lie?"

"When a liar lies, even his lies are lies!"

"Beware the liar who can no longer tell he is lying!"

"Beware the fraud who can no longer tell he is a fraud!

"Beware the violent man who thinks he is just in his violence!"

"Beware the man who sees honor in dishonorable acts!"

"Beware the man who displays his dishonor like a strutting peac0ck!"

"He who asks a question and doesn't like the answer he gets, didn't want an answer to his question in the first place!"

"You can't educate a know it all who doesn't know that he doesn't know what he doesn't know!"

"He who knowingly shares a gift of knowledge, gives his gift to no ONE, but to EVERYONE!!!"

"The patient patiently wait for the impatient to gain patience in order for the impatient's patience to bear the fruits that patience patiently imparts!"

He was very wise!