5 Legendary Times Bruce Lee Blew Our Minds With His Awesomeness

Bruce Lee. Whether it was using martial arts to do the impossible or spouting incredibly introspective, philosophical pieces of thought candy, the guy was one hell of a dude.
Sometimes, he kicked it up to an especially high level. You see, the true masters — they have that extra gear that you don’t see coming. When everyone zigs, they zag, the seas part, and they do something truly awesome.
Bruce Lee had many of those moments in his celebrated life, but here are a few of the most mind-blowing.

1. When His Finger Pointed The Way To The Moon

When I first watched this Bruce Lee speech from Enter The Dragon, I felt a hell of a lot like that kid. Lee was just laying down some damn thunder, and this kid’s brain clearly explodes somewhere in the middle of it.
“Don’t think,” he says, “Feeeeel. It’s like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all of the heavenly glory!”
Sometimes, you gotta get out of your own head and focus on the goal more than the process of getting there.

2. That Time He Told Us To Be Water

I still get chills watching this one. This fella had a way with language. I would have never thought that “being water” would make a powerful and vivid statement, but as you can see for yourselves, it God damn did.
There are number of takeaways here, but the thing I like to think of when it comes to this mini-sermon is to let go of what you think you have to be and just adapt to the situation around you.
Too often we have such rigid ideas of how things should be. As a result, we can’t change quickly. If we go in with the mentality of adaptation and flexibility, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.

3. When He Broke Down All The Borders

In this interview, Bruce Lee gets asked a question: After having spent so much time in the States, does he still view himself as Chinese, or does he now think of himself as North American?
Bruce Lee wasn’t about to let that one slip by without some philosophical statement on togetherness:

It’s important to love your country. I sure as shit do. But, it’s also important not to define yourself by it.

4. When He Broke Down Chuck Norris

Look, it’s one thing to give us a quote about humanity. It’s quite another thing to make The Way Of The Dragon and do this shit to Chuck Norris:

Once you get over the fact that Chuck Norris used to look like a totally different person, it starts to sink in what Bruce Lee just accomplished. All those Chuck Norris facts — clearly bogus. This movie disproves all of them.
Before Chuck Norris goes to sleep at night, he checks for Bruce Damn Lee.

5. “Boards Don’t Hit Back.”

In “Enter The Dragon,” this beefy fella wanted to show that he hit like a Mack truck, so he puts his fist through a board.
Bruce Lee — setting a record for being unimpressed — just states, “Boards don’t hit back.” He then proceeds to hand this fella his own ass.
Next time, someone tries to intimidate you, just remember that boards don’t hit back. The dude who makes all the noise and beats his chest is often able to talk the talk but not walk the walk.
Keep that in mind next time you find yourself in a tough spot.