Sublime

dares not demonstrate his power (for domination).

The warriors and rich merchants who were retired gave rise to a class of the populace called the "literati" or bunjin (bun=literature; jin=person). This class was well versed in reading and

When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.

What cannot be accomplished by threats can often be achieved by composure. Sit and stare and let your opponent fill the silence with his own demons.

number of feints, swift attacks from all angles, psychological ploys. In time, with years of creative training and a willingness to invest in loss, to take blow after blow and get blasted off the pedestals as a way of life, the game starts to slow down.

“Save me from strife and battle, a most beastly madness,” Leonardo once wrote. Yet for eight months he had put himself at Borgia’s service and traveled with his armies. Why would a person whose notebook aphorisms decry killing and whose personal morality led him to be a vegetarian go to work for the most brutal murderer of the era? Partly this choi

“If you lay violent hands on me, you’ll have my body, but my mind will remain with Stilpo.” —ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.24

Remember: no matter how good your hand techniques are, if you can’t move with them, are useless in fighting.

David’s confidence arose from experience, not ego. He had been through worse and done it with his bare hands.