Season 1 Episode #1-2 - Pilot
DCDisciple Caine
Master, do we seek victory in contention?
Seek rather not to contend.
But shall we not then be defeated?
We know that where there is no contention, there is neither defeat nor victory. The supple willow does not contend against the storm, yet it survives.
Avoid, rather than check. Check, rather than hurt. Hurt, rather than maim. Maim, rather than kill. For all life is precious, nor can any be replaced.
"Weakness prevails over strength. Gentleness conquers. Become the calm and restful breeze that tames the violent sea." -Master Kan (may refer to TAO TE CHING #78 "The weak can overcome the strong")
DCDisciple Caine
Master, our bodies are prey to many needs: hunger, thirst, the need for love.
In one lifetime, a man knows many pleasures: a mother's smile in waking hours, a young woman's intimate, searing touch, and the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one with nature.
Shall we then seek to satisfy these needs?
Only acknowledge them and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance.
"Fear creates the victim.... I will survive if I can." -Caine
"Fear is never a part of a man, until it enters him." -Caine
"Fear is like a seed that grows. If you plant fear, then it will grow." -Caine
"When a fear becomes strong enough, it is like another being within you who fights to stay alive. It is not you who will die, but your fear." -Caine
Season 1 Episode #5 - The Tide
Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the present?
If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.
Seek not to know the answers, but to understand the questions.
MKMaster Kahn
We do not punish for trust. If while building a house, a carpenter strikes a nail. It proves faulty by bending. Does the carpenter then lose faith in all nails and stop building his house?
Then we are required to trust, even when we are reminded of the existence of evil.
MKMaster Kahn
Deal with evil through strength. But affirm the good in man through trust. In this way, we are prepared for evil, but we encourage good.
And is good our great reward for trusting?
MKMaster Kahn
In striving for an ideal, we do not seek rewards. Yet trust does sometimes bring with it a great reward, even greater than good.
What is greater than good?
MKMaster Kahn
Love.
Can a woman be happy alone?
SYSu Yen Lu
To be alone, without one to love, is a waste of the body. To be not alone, without one to love, is a waste of the soul.
SYSu Yen Lu
Love born of betrayal is better lost than lived.
Season 1 Episode #11 – The Praying Mantis Kills
[Caine has given another Shaolin monk a sextant that had belonged to his father.]
You wish no longer to savor the memory of your father through that which was close to him?
Master. You have taught me to claim no possessions, that none may claim me.
The sextant was only a memory, which you could keep not only in your heart, but in your hands.
I am of age. I must put away such memories.
Between father and son, there is a bridge which neither time nor death can shatter. Each stands at one end, needing to cross and meet.
But he is dead.
The bridge of which I speak, Grasshopper, is your love for him.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Kung Fu pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.