One tip most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coaches recommend for getting better is buying a notebook. Journaling in a notebook after class can help you to remember complicated techniques. However, having a notebook can also serve as a way to understand the culture of BJJ. You can write down inspirational things you’ve heard, or advice you’ve received from a mentor.
Small cornerstones of thought can become the foundations for building your game. They can also be ways to motivate yourself when the drive to the gym seems extra long. Although there are too many BJJ quotations to include all of them in this article, here are a few BJJ quotes that resonate with us!
Famous Jiu Jitsu quotes
“There is no losing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. You either win or you learn.”
-Carlos Gracie
“If you want to be a lion, you must train with lions.”
-Carlson Gracie
“The art of Jiu Jitsu is worth more in every way than all of our athletics combined.”
-U.S President Teddy Roosevelt
“Always assume your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on techniques, timing, and leverage rather than brute strength.”
-Helio Gracie
“Why would you ignore fifty percent of the body?”
-Dean Lister
“Martial arts are a vehicle for developing your human potential.”
– Joe Rogan
“For every match lost by overconfidence, there are one hundred that are lost due to excessive timidity.”
– John Danaher
“Jiu Jitsu, Judo, and Wrestling. Those are absolute martial arts in my opinion. […] If you are in a fight with someone who is the same frame as you, but they have a blackbelt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. You are fucked. […] If you grapple with a guy bigger than you, and he doesn’t have any martial arts experience. He’s still fucked.”
– Joe Rogan to Lex Friedman (JRE #1188)
“I’ve never been quite as humbled as I have in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.”
– Lex Friedman
“My experience with Jiu Jitsu was very humbling. When I first started out I had a long history with martial arts in striking. A guy who was my size and close to my age mauled me, and he wasn’t even a black belt.”
– Joe Rogan
“It’s what Martial arts are supposed to be. That a small person who knows technique can beat a big person that doesn’t know the technique. That’s what we always hoped for when we saw the Bruce Lee movies.”
– Joe Rogan
“Jiu Jitsu at the end of the day is the art of expressing yourself honestly. Every time you put on that gi you can’t lie.”
– Saulo Ribeiro
“It is important not to be better than someone else, but be better than yesterday.”
-Jigoro Kano
“If you push kids too hard, too young, they will quit forever. Parents should never burden their kids with their unfulfilled ambitions, frustrations, anxiety, or any other form of emotional baggage. The parents’ support must be consistent. The most important thing is that the child gets the experience—win, lose, or draw—without judgment.”
-Rickson Gracie, Breathe: A Life in Flow
Inspirational Jiu Jitsu Quotes
“Fall down seven times, get up eight.”
-Proverb
“Jiu Jitsu is probably the number one activity that I could recommend to someone to improve their lives overall.”
-Jocko Willink
“I keep the white belt mentality. That I can learn from anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
-George St. Pierre
When asked what’s the biggest obstacle for a practitioner who is trying to earn their blackbelt: “Delayed gratification.”
Nick ‘Chewy’ Albin Chewy from the YouTube channel Chewjitsu)
“The more I train, the luckier I get.”
“The high minded pursuit of a Jiu Jitsu practitioner pursuing mastery cannot coexist well with the modern world. Our values vary immensely from our contemporaries. The pursuit leaves societal norms slaughtered in our wake. Those who share this journey will praise our efforts; those in the hive will think we have lost it. We must be willing to be misunderstood if we are to understand ourselves.”
-Chris Matakas
“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equals as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented. I am obsessed.”
-Connor McGregor
“A black belt is a white belt who never quit”
-Unknown
“A black belt is someone who will find a way or make one.”
-Unknown
“People would see a lot of times fighting as a ugly thing, as a thing that denigrates the human being. In reality, you see fighting on everything… Everything’s fighting. Doesn’t matter what it is. You wake up in the morning, to get out of bed is a fight, believe it. So, fighting is actually the best thing a man can have in his soul.”
-Renzo Gracie
Quotes from John Danaher
“Learning how to learn is absolutely one of the keys to success in life in general, and as a Jiu Jitsu practitioner”
“What is described as elite performance is mostly just the fundamentals taken to the limits of their vast potential.”
“The deepest benefits of Jiu Jitsu come off the mat. It encourages a world-view based upon the idea of rational problem solving. Jiu Jitsu is all about solving problems that are rapidly changing under stress, and that gives you an ability to identify the crux of the problem in front of you, even in a stressful situation and adapt your body and tactics to overcome that problem and to continue overcoming it as the problem itself changes. It encourages you to use a very rational trial and error method, basically the same method that science uses to overcome these problems. So it gives you this sort of problem solving mindset, which I think applies throughout life itself.”
“Begin every engagement by denying your opponent the tools they need to impose your game upon you. Only then do you work to impose your game upon them.”
“Fights are won on small mundane details”
“There is a difference between something that is catastrophic and something that is uncomfortable. If something is catastrophic (breaking your limbs, choke on too tight) you tap. If something is uncomfortable you have to find a way out.”
-John Danaher
Funny Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Quotes
“Take some Jiu Jitsu and I’ll tell you right now. You really decrease the possibility of anyone attempting sodomy on you.”
-Echo Charles Podcast
“One day someone is going to try and take something from you, and you are going to have to choke that motherfucker out. It’s that simple.”
-Ralph Gracie
“A good friend doesn’t break up a fight. A good friend comes in with a flying kick.”
-Renzo Gracie
“Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has brought me to a point in my life where most of my best friends have choked me.”
-Unknown
“I am a shark, the ground is my ocean, and most people can’t even swim.”
-Rickson Gracie
“I used to look at men’s thighs and ask myself, how can I put my balls there? The next day I started leg locks.”
-Craig Jones
“Hey man, you surf for a living, I fight for a living. If you want to go to the beach, let me know.”
-Royler Gracie
Conclusion
The process of “learning how to learn” is different for everyone. But for BJJ your process can start with buying a notebook. Use it not just to memorize techniques, but to learn Jiu Jitsu culture. Write down inspirational Jiu Jitsu quotes that motivate you to continue training.
You never know, your coach may say something truly inspirational in their never-ending post class speech one day!
Jack is a D who holds a bachelors degree in English Literature. He enjoys traveling, reading, and the Bow and Arrow choke. One day he hopes to teach English overseas and become a published author.