Martial arts is for defense. It's not for attacking. So when people are fighting, always, always, defend.
Interpretation
Martial arts should be used primarily for self-defense, not for aggression.
Jackie Chan emphasizes that the true essence of martial arts lies in protecting oneself rather than seeking out confrontation. He advocates for a mindset focused on defense, highlighting the importance of restraint and the moral responsibility that comes with the ability to fight.
In practice
During a self-defense seminar, I quoted Jackie Chan to emphasize the importance of defending oneself rather than seeking confrontation.
American stuntmen are smart - they think about safety. When they do a jump in a car, they calculate everything: the speed, the distance... But in Hong Kong, we don't know how to count. Everything we do is a guess. If you've got the guts, you do it. All of my stuntmen have gotten hurt.
One thing I did pick up from Cannonball Run was the use of bloopers and outtakes under the final credits, which I've done in all my movies since.
Martial arts is not for hurting people, it's for protecting people.
We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people.
In the past when I was in Hollywood, I was like a dog. I felt humiliated. My English was not good. People would even ask me 'Jackie Who?'.
Why did I become Jackie Chan? Mostly because I work very hard. When people were sleeping, I was still training.
It is a struggle; for though the black man fights passively, he nevertheless fights; and his passive resistance is more effective at present than active resistance could possibly be. He bears the fury of the storm as does the willow tree.
Rape is a crime against sleep and memory; it's afterimage imprints itself like an irreversible negative from the camera obscura of dreams.
I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hacked.
It would be very, very dangerous for a wire walker to experience fear while he is balancing on the wire. Fear has its place on earth, before and maybe after a high-wire walk, but not during for me.
Women are constantly being taught how to defend themselves against attack from men. I would like to shift the perception. I want to say that that responsibility should no longer rest on the shoulders of women alone.
I will not agree to go to war in the Donbass. I know there are a lot of hotheads, especially those who hold rallies and say, 'Let's go fight and win it all back!' But at what price? What is the cost? It's another story of lives and land. And I won't do it.
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