I recently saw a YouTube video of Joe Rogan taking off his shirt to show his tattoo. Joe Rogan said — “I have a tattoo of Miyamoto Musashi , I read his book, The Book of five rings when I was 16 years old and it stayed with me.”

That got me thinking and read about Miyamoto Mushashi and ordered the book from amazon. As soon as it arrived I started reading and finished it within a week. Even though it’s a book on strategy, sword fighting, and martial arts, I feel some of the principles and concepts apply to almost every walk of life. Here are my three favourite quotes and how I interpret them in the times that we live.

“A Warrior’s way is twofold. The way of the pen and the sword.”

Having a skill is no longer enough. The ability to communicate effectively often takes precedence over the skill. The ability to articulate one’s thoughts is a skill in itself it involves a lot of reading, writing, and speaking.

So a modern-day maxim can be, “A professional’s way is twofold. The way of the skill and communication.”



“This is a truth, when you sacrifice your life, you must make the fullest use of your weaponry. It is false not to do so and to die with a weapon yet undrawn.”

This quote resonates with giving a 100% in whatever you do. And any effort that is less than that is not satisfactory. Throwing everything at our disposal to solve a problem is what Miyamoto Mushashi wants us to do. The modern-day challenge is fulfilling our own potential. We often complain of having the wrong cards, but do we make the best use of the cards dealt with?



“You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.”

People often debate the importance of specialization. Pro-specialization school tells that it in specialization lies the potential to optimize outcomes and solve real-world problems. On the contrary, Miyamoto Mushashi in his book depicts the pitfalls and dangers of specialization. He says, “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”

This in many ways also signified how Miyamoto Mushashi lived his life. Even though he was chopping off people’s head for fun, he was a deep thinker, prolific philosopher, an excellent writer, and more importantly a student for life!

Image credit: Image by pikisuperstar on freepick