43 of the Best Jiu Jitsu Quotes

1) "Anyone can be tough for a season. It takes a special kind of human to rise to life's challenges for a lifetime." - Chris Matakas

2) “It’s as real as it can get. That has made me a better person. It’s made me a better man. It’s made me understand myself, my weaknesses, my strengths, the shit I need to work on. Jiu-jitsu has been one of the most valuable tools I’ve ever had in my life.” – Joe Rogan

Related - 146 Yoga Quotes to Help You Stay Centered

3) “Jiu jitsu is not the art of hitting, it’s the art of not getting hit.” – Royce Gracie

4) “I am a shark, the ground is my ocean, and most people don’t know how to swim.” - Jean Jacques Machado

5) “Learning defense improves the attack. I f the lion knows how the prey can escape, it’ll capture it in a much more precise way” - Rillion Gracie

6) “At first repetition is what counts”, says Carlos Gracie Jr. “I teach my students to repeat the moves to exhaustion, until it enters their subconscious and they therefore can apply them automatically, without thinking. Later on, once the combat situations have become complex I try and stimulate them to be creative.” - Master Carlos Gracie Jr.

7) “Time on the mat will eventually surpass talent and ability.” - Gracie Mag

8) “Never quit, you have to resist to the utmost. ‘Til you drop, like a Samurai.” - Carlson Gracie Sr.

9) “The mountain-sea spirit that it is bad to repeat the same thing several times several times when fighting the enemy. There may be no help but to do something twice, but do not try it a third time. If you once make an attack and fail, there is little chance of success if you use the same approach again. If you attempt a technique which you have previously tried unsuccessfully and fail yet again, then you must change your attacking method." - Miyamoto Musashi

10) “A champion should ask himself: ‘if I were to compete against myself, what would I practice to beat me?" - Leo Vieira

11) “Your opponent is strong, are you crazy? Strong is the smell of your bullsh**.” – José Mario Sperry

12) “The art of Jiu-Jitsu is worth more in every way than all of our athletics combined.” - President Theodore Roosevelt

13) “In the fight, only one person can be comfortable. Your job is to transfer the comfortable from your opponent to you.” - Rickson Gracie

14) "look he carry all of my weight. That’s another theory of jiu-jitsu. When I rest I should put him to work so I don’t get tired and he get tired. He spend energy.” - Demian Maia

15) “Catch him in between the movements.” - Xande Ribeiro

16) “Fighting is not a physical thing, it is a spiritual thing” – Rickson Gracie

17) “The master in the art of living makes little distinction between work and leisure, between mind and body, between education and recreation, between love and religion. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving it to others to decide whether it is working or playing. He knows he is always doing both simultaneously.” - Miyao brothers

18) “To be champion all you have to do is train. But first, one must be a good person. Be a friend at the academy, learn to help. To be good at Jiu-Jitsu it’s all about believing and training, there isn’t that much else you can do.” – Rodolfo Vieira

19) “The perfect technique is one without much effort or conscious thought applied at the right time in the right direction, with the right amount of force – a spontaneous reaction to the opportunity presented by the opponent’s movement.” - Unknown Judoka

20) “Where there’s discomfort, there’s fear,” he said. “In these very tough positions, you’re in a little piece of hell. And through this daily suffering, you learn to survive in these situations. You have to find comfort in the uncomfortable situations. You have to be able to live your worst nightmare. Jiu-Jitsu puts you completely in the moment where you must have complete focus on finding a solution to the problem. This trains the mind to build that focus, to increase your awareness, your capacity to solve problems. Sometimes, you don’t have to win. You cannot win. But that has nothing to do with losing.” - Rickson Gracie

21) “If you think, you are late. If you are late, you use strength. If you use strength, you tire. If you tire, you die.” - Saulo Ribeiro

22) “In the fight, only one person can be comfortable. Your job is to transfer the comfortable from your opponent to you.” - Rickson Gracie

23) “Jiu Jitsu at the end of the day, is the art of expressing yourself honestly. Every time you put on a Gi, you can’t lie.” - Saulo Ribeiro

24) “Jiu Jitsu is a baptism by combat, and serves a purpose in the inner life of the individual that has always existed, but our modern culture fails to acknowledge.” - Chris Matakas

25) “If it wasn’t for me, today the Gracie family would be selling banana’s on the pavement.” – Carlson Gracie

26) “I drill techniques – my main techniques, my “A” move, my “A Game” sweep, the guard pass and sub I hit the most, over and over again. I’ve drilled them so many times, my body just reacts now. I can go out and let instinct take over. Most of our training is drilling, based on our individual games and what we do best. Before a big tournament I stick to the stuff I’ve been doing, and just drill it to death….If you’re thinking about what to do next, your competitor is already moving to his next move. It’s best to just react and let your body take over.” - Keenan Cornelius

27) “It’s not what you’re going to take from martial arts, it’s what you have to give to martial arts.” - Saulo Ribeiro

28) “If I throw you in water and I am drowning you, you can control your drowning. You don’t panic, win lose or draw. You go down practicing the art of jiu-jitsu. And the art is: how do I control and submit my opponent and survive using the least amount of attributes. Strength, explosion, youth, size any of that and the maximum amount of leverage, cunningness, guile and technique.” - Chris Haueter

29) “The rule is to train, train and train some more. Train until the lamb becomes the lion.” – Paulo Miyao

30) “When you realize you are no longer made of glass, you lose the desire to demonstrate that fragility in others.” - Chris Matakas

31) “A black belt only covers two inches of your as* – you have to cover the rest.” - Royce Gracie

32) “When you feel like judging someone , run towards a mirror. Then you see that you have faults too.” - Miyao brothers

33) “The best thing about jiu jitsu is the honor it provides.” – Fábio Gurgel

34) “One of the quotes that I use a lot – besides you’re only as good as the guys you sweat and bleed with – is that iron sharpens iron. So that one man sharpens another. I think that it is very true. If you are not in a training environment where you are getting smacked in the head, you are getting tapped out, you are getting challenged on a daily basis, then you are not getting any better. You’re not improving. Your workout partners are a very important piece of your progression as an athlete and the character that you are building as a person as well. Those are key components and finding that right place is a piece of it.” - Randy Couture

35) “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants in life is merely the will to try and the faith to believe that it is possible.” - Miyao brothers

36) “If you think, you are late. If you are late, you use strength. If you use strength, you tire. And if you tire, you die.” - Saulo Ribeiro

37) “Anger brought me to jiu jitsu, but love made me stay.” – Abmar Barbosa

38) “if you punch them in the stomach they will open their legs quicker than a prostitute.” - Kurt Osiander

39) “The most interesting aspect of jiu-jitsu is… of course the techniques are great… but the sensibility of the opponent, sense of touch, the weight, the momentum, the transition from one movement to another. That’s the amazing thing about it. You must allow yourself to go as on auto pilot. You don’t know exactly where you’re going until the movement happened because you can not anticipate what is going to happen. You must allow yourself to be in a zero point; a neutral point. Be relaxed and connected with the variations. Flow with the go.” - Rickson Gracie

40) “I know it’s very fashionable now that everybody’s going upside down, berimbolo, inversions, spinning upside down, spin through the air… f*ck them.” - Kurt Osiander

41) “My opponent is my teacher, my ego is my enemy.” - Unknown

42) “The more I train the luckier I get.” – Renzo Gracie

43) “The biggest lesson I learnt from jiu jitsu was how to truly know myself.” – Carlos Gracie