Bruce Lee Stole Several Quotes

**HoneyRazwell** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 8:31pm

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."

Guess what? That quote is NOT originally from Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee stole that from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, a German writer and artist who Albert Einsten greatly admired. Einstein apparently read Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's writings very often.

There are more examples I will find. I guess Bruce thought it was so obscure that nobody would notice. LOL !

**lordbd** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 8:57pm

I have no evidence for this but in one of my college German courses we learned as an aside from our Prof. That Lee quoted Goethe. So maybe he didn't steal it. It could have been a quote he liked which ppl incorrectly attribute to him. From what I recall Lee was a pretty avid reader of philosophy.

**slamdunc** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 9:51pm

Originally Posted by lordbd

From what I recall Lee was a pretty avid reader of philosophy.

Correct, his major was Philosophy (University of Washington); philosophy is basically studying the problems of society and saying cool **** about them. Without quoting other people it would be pretty boring.

BTW, I love the new avatar.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 9:53pm

There's nothing new under the sun. Except for that statement which I totally made up right then and have copyrighted because no one has copyright over it yet.

***jnp*** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 9:54pm

Originally Posted by HoneyRazwell

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."

Guess what? That quote is NOT originally from Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee stole that from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, a German writer and artist who Albert Einsten greatly admired. Einstein apparently read Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's writings very often.

There are more examples I will find. I guess Bruce thought it was so obscure that nobody would notice. LOL !

The forum in which you started this thread, Martial Arts BS, Fraud, Investigations, and Standards, or MABS when abbreviated, is for serious investigations only. If you choose to publicly inform the board of a fact that probably half of us already know, please do so in this forum, Your Martial Art Sucks: General Martial Arts and Comedy Forum, or YMAS.

I'm not even a Bruce Lee nutrider, but I know other martial artists and authors often mistakenly attribute quotes to him. The key phrase here is "other martial artists and authors", rather than Mr. Lee falsely claiming credit for phrases he did not himself coin. So unless you have some proof that Mr. Lee claimed to be the author of some of these quotes, you're wasting our time and Phrost's bandwidth.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 9:57pm

The "be like water" thing is totally not his either. FRAUD!

**profroche** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 10:00pm

Just because Lee said it and people assumed it was his doesn't mean he stole it.
Goethe is very, very well-known writer, Lee would have to be crazy to try and steal from him.

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 10:04pm

Originally Posted by profroche

Just because Lee said it and people assumed it was his doesn't mean he stole it.
Goethe is very, very well-known writer, Lee would have to be crazy to try and steal from him.

Wow, it's like you read the whole thread, all five replies, and summarised what had already been said. Genius.

**profroche** · Posted On: 7/16/2012 10:14pm

My primary point was that Goethe is a very well known writer, which was something TC is seemingly unaware of; to the point that Lee attempting to plagiarize him would be like trying to plagiarize from Einstein or Plato. Any philosophy major would immediately recognize the quotation, so in effect TC isn't accusing Lee of theft, he's accusing him of theft and colossal stupidity.
This was not a point previously mentioned, but I apologize if reading the one other sentence I wrote that echoed a previous poster's sentiment was a great strain on you.