These are various sayings from a wide variety of martial artists, and although many of them are not Kendoka, in my opinion their ideas apply very well to Kendo none-the-less. Feel free to send in your comments on these!
  • "The sword follows the hand, the hand follows the mind."
    • - Excerpt from Shinto Munen Ryu Philosophy, believed to be the root of "modern Kendo".

  • "A second-hand artist blindly following his Sensei, accepts his pattern. As a result, his action, and more importantly, his thinking become mechanical. His responses become automatic, according to set patterns, making him narrow and limited."
    • - Bruce Lee

  • "Your grip when cutting something to test your blade and your grip when slashing in combat should be no different, gripping the sword as you would to kill a man. Generally speaking, fixation and binding, in both the sword and the hand is incorrect. Fixation is the way to death, fluidity is the way to life. This is something that should be well understood."
    • - Miyamoto Musashi, Go Rin No Sho.

  • "We practice for thousands of days, whether we win or lose is decided in an instant."
    • - Jigoro Kano

  • "Effort within the mind further limits the mind, because effort implies struggle towards a goal and when you have a goal, a purpose, an end in view, you have placed a limit on the mind."
    • - Bruce Lee

  • "For people who want to learn my military science, there are rules for learning the art:
    1. Think of what is right and true.
    2. Practice and cultivate the science.
    3. Become aquainted with the arts.
    4. Know the principles of the crafts.
    5. Understand the harm and benefit of everything.
    6. Learn to see everything accurately.
    7. Become aware of what is not obvious.
    8. Be careful even in small matters.
    9. Do not do anything useless.
    • - Miyamoto Musashi, Go Rin No Sho

  • "A golden rule is never to use more complex movements than are necessary to achieve the desired result. To hit a worthy opponent with a complex movement is satisfying and shows one's mastery of technique; to hit the same opponent by a simple movement is a sign of greatness."
    • - Bruce Lee

Source: Halifax Kendo