Rickson Gracie

"Jiu Jitsu is perfect. It’s humans who make errors."

- Rickson Gracie

"Jiu-jitsu helped me to understand life in a very deep way because it’s a representation of life but on the mat. You can express your emotions, you can express your intelligence, and you can express your personality, your character. You cannot hide anything because once you’re there, you have your Gi, [but] no gold watches, and no security, no guns, and you have to expose yourself in a very raw way."

- Rickson Gracie

"Jiu-Jitsu helped me to understand life in a very deep way because it’s a representation of life but on the mat. You can express your emotions, you can express your intelligence, and you can express your personality, your character. You cannot hide anything because once you’re there, you have your Gi, but no gold watches, and no security, no guns, and you have to expose yourself in a very raw way."

- Rickson Gracie

"Jiu-jitsu is a live demonstration of what you’re about."

- Rickson Gracie

"A brave man, a real fighter is not measured by how many times he falls, but how many times he stands up."

- Rickson Gracie

"Sometimes you don’t have to win. You cannot win. But that has nothing to do with losing."

- Rickson Gracie

"In the fight, only one person can be comfortable. Your job is to transfer the comfortable from your opponent to you."

- Rickson Gracie

"Fighting is not a physical thing, it is a spiritual thing"

- Rickson Gracie

"I am a shark, the ground is my ocean, and most people can’t even swim."

- Rickson Gracie

"The opposite of courage is conformity."

- Rickson Gracie

"If you are ready to die, then you are ready to live."

- Rickson Gracie

"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 autopilot. 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

"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display the strength of heart."

- Rickson Gracie

"The evolutionary process in jiu jitsu makes you feel every time more capable to see the underlines, to anticipate the move, to become better connected with the elements no matter if it’s physical, spiritual or mental."

- Rickson Gracie

"If size mattered then the elephant would be king of the jungle."

- Rickson Gracie

"It’s more than sport for me, because I never get in a fight intending to tap."

- Rickson Gracie

"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart."

- Rickson Gracie

"I think the most valuable thing today I have, is to display and inform people [about] how important the invisible aspect of jiu jitsu is."

- Rickson Gracie

"I’ve been preaching the invisible jiu jitsu for a while, and now it becomes very appropriate to start to develop this kind of jiu jitsu which doesn’t translate in fight itself but translates in more self recognition."

- Rickson Gracie

"I’ve been preaching the invisible jiu-jitsu for a while, and now it becomes very appropriate to start to develop this kind of jiu-jitsu which doesn’t translate in the fight itself but translates in more self-recognition. It’s part of jiu-jitsu where you start to understand how a little shift of your angle can change the whole performance of your opponent. How a little timing or deflection, or connection, can really be positive in your engagement."

- Rickson Gracie

"The best approach for teaching jiu jitsu is to make the student learn from within."

- Rickson Gracie

"Self-defence, self-confidence, discipline and self control. The values you learn are priceless."

- Rickson Gracie

"The most important thing is not victory, the most important thing is don't get defeated."

- Rickson Gracie

"In life, when presented with any situation, breathe, take your time, focus and then decide what to do."

- Rickson Gracie

"Our fears don't stop death, they stop life."

- Rickson Gracie

"I think the most valuable thing today I have, is to display and inform people [about] how important the invisible aspect of jiu-jitsu is. It’s the fight you fight with your brain, with your spirit, but not with your physicality."

- Rickson Gracie

"Everybody has fear. The difference is that the coward does not control fear and the brave... gets over it."

- Rickson Gracie

"Jiu jitsu is more like a religion, it’s more like a lifestyle, than actually a competition aspect."

- Rickson Gracie

"My code of life and my personal bushido is honour, respect, loyalty, courage and surrender."

- Rickson Gracie