Jet Li Quotations

I need to talk about Chinese culture. We have deep, strong philosophy and culture. I want to share some information, tell the worldwide audience.

My wife is the boss at home, and my daughters are the bosses. I am just the worker. We are a very warm family and very happy.

I believe the world is one big family, and we need to help each other.

While films are a very visual and emotional artistic medium, video games take it one step further into the realm of a unique personal experience.

In the States, you can buy Chinese food. In Beijing you can buy hamburger. It's very close. Now I feel the world become a big family, like a really big family. You have many neighbors. Not like before, two countries are far away.

I remember when I was 11, I did some Kung-fu demonstrations in Hong Kong in 1974.

Bruce Lee was very famous. I watched his movies and he is amazing. He is a martial arts master, his philosophy, his movement, both physically and mentally, were very strong.

You can use martial arts to tell a different story. Ang Lee used martial arts in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' to talk about love.

Everywhere I go, I still have time to meditate. People think meditating is sitting there, nobody bothering you, but you can even talk and still meditate

Zhang Yimou is an artist. Sometimes we did only two or three shots a day because we were waiting for the sun.

Hero shows you how to solve the problem - yourself.

My wife wanted my children to have some Chinese culture and education. She believes the children need to learn two languages and two cultures.

My manager introduced me to the 'Rise to Honor' team. I was curious about what it took to be involved in video games, a completely new form of entertainment to me.

A weapon isn't good or bad, depends on the person who uses it.

You can beat me up, but don't touch my hair, I will kill you!

I think the most important is when I was young, I learnt martial arts; that is my special key.

I knew nothing about martial arts. The coach told me I was talented with learning martial arts, and put me in a school. Three years later I got my first championship in China.

Usually action films have a formula: good guy gets in trouble, his wife dies, friends have problems, so he goes to the mountain, learns martial arts, comes back, and kills the bad guy.

When I was 8 years old, I knew nothing about martial arts. The coach told me I was talented with learning martial arts, and put me in a school.

I do some of my stunts for the things I have learned. But if it is for something I have never learned, then I use a double.

I spend more time learning about Buddhism than English, which is why my English today is still bad.

I study more of truth and enlightening. I had to go the next level to talk about life.

Working on a film, the setup for an action sequence takes a long time, and we need to shoot the scene many times to get different angles.

Watching movies in the U.S. is great fun because they get every joke, they smile, they laugh so much; it's a great feeling.

People would come to me and say, 'Jet, your Kung Fu is pretty good, do you want to be an action star when you grow up?' At 17, I was given the script and I went to make the movie.

I have met Jackie Chan about 6 times up 'til now... and even though many people think we are natural enemies, I personally think he is a cool bloke and would honestly love to work with him in a film one time - that would a well brilliant movie!

Hero" is really special because there is no formula. Usually the good guy has a problem. This film doesn't have a real bad guy in it.

He said, 'Here is the deal: Play the bad guy first, then I give you a good guy next,' ... I asked him what the movie was called, (and) he said 'Romeo Must Die.' (It) sounds like a romantic story, not an action movie.

Jackie Chan is a very good comedy/martial arts star. He does one kind of martial arts that Jet Li doesn't know how to do and Jet Li does a martial art that Jackie Chan doesn't know how to do. You can both go to two Chinese restaurants, but both can have different kinds of food.

I think Ang Lee is a very, very talented director. He used martial arts to talk about love and girl, you know... But Zhang Yimou tried to use martial arts film to talk about Chinese culture, Chinese people. What do they think, what do they want and what do they hope the world will become.

My personal philosophy stems from the deep understanding of martial arts and Chinese culture, and especially in the past eight years, the Buddhism thoughts shaped my ideology.

When I first met her, ... she asked, 'Jet, can you teach me some martial and kung fu stuff. I want to fight in the movie.

I've said more than once that this will be my last martial arts film.

No matter Fearless is warmly received or not, I hope young Chinese generation can appreciate it from the point of the world rather than being confined to the Chinese culture and movie. It is a narrow idea that Chinese Kong Fu must defeat all the foreigners.

Zhang Yimou is one of the best directors on mainland China.

This film is a bit adventurous, ... You have to keep guessing what's going to happen next, and the ending is quite unexpected.

Even when I use a word in the wrong order in a sentence, I get mad. It's very stressful.

Tibetan Buddhism, has inspired me and accelerated my understanding of life.

Zhang Yimou tried to use martial arts to talk about Chinese culture, Chinese people. What do they think, what do they want and what do they hope.

I am so happy because I want more people to like martial arts movie not just martial arts audience. Even martial arts can be used in comedy, in drama, in horror movies, in different kinds of movies.

I hope everyone can examine what is the most important relationship in life - the relationship between parent and child.

When I lived in Hong Kong, I felt that Hong Kong is my family.

I've been learning martial arts since I was 8 years old.

I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16.

Hong Kong film audiences are very quiet. It's their culture.

And lot of Asian audiences and reporters don't like me to act as a bad guy. But I think I want to become an actor, I want to try different way.

Zhang is a friend of mine: he said forget about acting and just do normal things in the movie.

I think all actors want to change. When you do something many times, over and over, you want to do something fresh. But movie is still my business. A lot of action actors want change, but no studio wants to spend money on something that is not guaranteed; not proven. I think it is very difficult. It is hard to change.

In my mind, martial arts movies are martial arts movies and action is action. It's quite different, because martial arts doesn't just have physical form; you have a philosophy, internal and external. A lot of it involves your life. How you see the world. An action film I think is just about the movement. I think it's different.

I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years.

When you have a friend you work with for 15 years, you become like brothers.

I can feel very brave through all the action scenes in front of the people who are on the set, but when a girl comes close to me my face turns red because I'm so shy.

I want to thank my mum, my daddy, my coach, my teacher, everybody in my life.

But recently I've, the past few years, I'm more focused on meditation. It's not a physical part. It's more mental part, to understand life.

This film 'Hero' talks about the peace of Chinese people.

Every President that went to China, I would meet them and have dinner and talk about the past and the future. That was in the '70s.

The audience makes the decision of what kind of actor they want to watch. I always have said the real boss is the audience.

I can watch CNN on television or the Internet to find out what happened in Hong Kong ten minutes ago. After all, it doesn't matter where something is made, we're all part of the same big family now.

I never stopped studying Buddhism. In the past few years, in between movies, I do a retreat.

You need to drop down. Nobody is perfect, nobody is superhero.

Wushu is a move in Chinese, a physical move. An attack. Wushu is like an art.

There is no pure success. I am action actor. I have broken almost every piece of my body.

Jackie Chan is a very good comedy/martial arts star. He does one kind of martial arts that Jet Li doesn't know how to do and Jet Li does a martial art that Jackie Chan doesn't know how to do. You can both go to two Chinese restaurants, but both can have different kinds of food.

I didn't go to normal children school. I went to sports school when I was 8. So I studied martial arts.

In acting you do a lot of research. Audience watch Jet Li because of the fight. They watch other actors because they are funny. If they want funny, they don't want to see Jet Li, they watch the other guy. That's the reality I face, until the one day I can prove I can make film without action that is a fun movie. Then everybody will say Jet Li, hmmm.

Love is more powerful than kicking ass.

Martial arts have two parts. One is external, other internal. The external is physical part. The internal is philosophy of how to be, what kind of person learns martial arts.

Failure is a fuel for excuses.

A mob is a group of persons with heads but no brains.

One cannot choose how one's life begins but one can choose to face the end with courage

In martial arts, the biggest enemy is self. Inside you struggle because you want to prove something.

I think 'Hero' is not a real martial arts movie; it is not about violence, or formula.

If you are always allowed to stop training whenever you feel discomfort, you will find it too easy to give yourself permission to quit.

Everything too fast is not good but everything too slow is also not good. You need balance. That's why I like martial arts: it always tells you how to control your body, your mind, your heart. Balance. Balance can keep the world's peace. I think that's a very good thing.

Learn the way and find your own way.

I wish heroes didn't exist. Whenever we need a hero, it's because there's a problem that needs to be solved; it's because two groups of people, or two countries, are hurting one another, so a hero is needed to save us. If everyone were at peace, if everyone were happy, why would we need heroes? The world is better off without heroes.