“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.”-Mark Twain

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend! Although it may mark the end of summer for some, this article reminds us what labor day is about. The passage from Grand-master Lee’s writing below, reminds us that we must labor in order to reap the rewards of our hard work.

LABOR DAY QUOTES: INSPIRATION SAYINGS FOR YOUR LONG WEEKEND

Success, Work, Knowledge, and Wisdom

“You know people, everything has a price. Whatever we want in life, we must give up something to get it. The greater the value, the greater the sacrifice required. There is a high price to pay for the kind of black belt success I want for you, and I tell you the rewards of this black belt success are really well worth the effort. The highway to success is really a toll road. The black belt master knows that success in martial arts is the child of drudgery and perseverance. You all learned that in getting your black belts. It cannot be coaxed or bribed: simply pay the price in effort and energy, and it is yours. Simple isn’t it?

I will tell you that no one has a corner on success. It is his or hers only who will do whatever is necessary to have it. You do what you have to do to have what you have to have.

The black belt knows luck gives nothing to a man without labor, right? labor is still, and forever will be, the inevitable price set upon everything which is valuable. Work is an “Open Sesame” of every door, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher’s stone which transmutes all the base metal of humanity into gold. We are all, simply in this life, what we know and learn. We can be no more or less.

Everything you want in life will always have a price connected to it. There is a price to pay if you want to earn a black belt, a price to pay if you did not study at all. Simply a price for everything you do or don’t do.

Why aren’t there more black belts in this system? Most people are simply unwilling to pay the price to make the exertion and effort, to sacrifice their ease and comfort. There are those who will, people, and those who won’t and because you are reading this now you were one of the few who did.

I think, perhaps, the most valuable result of all your training with me is the ability to make yourself do the things that you have to do, when they ought to be done, whether you like it or no. It is the first lesson i think that ought to be learned when any of your brown belts decides to become a black belt.

As i said before, there is no royal road; you’ve got to work a good deal harder than most people want to work. But you’re not most people, Are you? that’s why you’re reading this information and learning to think like, not just a black belt, but a Richard Lee Black Belt Master.

Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way I know to accomplish results that last. Remember, our students will live longer than us, and for Bok-Fu-Do to last we must be better and brighter than the masters on the scene now, in other systems. Follow these ideas and watch it grow.

There is no lasting victory at bargain basement prices. I hear even black belts sometimes talk as if victory and success were something fortunate. Work is victory people, hard work well executed, equals success to me.”