It is spiritless to think that you cannot attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. I… - Yamamoto Tsunetomo

If you are unaware that the world is teeming with ineptitude from the beginning, you will develop a bitter countenance, and in turn others will eschew you.

Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead

Once there was a certain man who was very clever, but it was his character to always see the negative points of his jobs. In such a way, one will be useless.