Bushido wasn't written down at all until the 17th century, after samurai had been in existence for centuries.
Japan had a feudal system, in which a lord expected obedience from his vassals, who in turn received economic and military protection from the lord.
Samurai also had a duty of vengeance. Should the honor of his master be tarnished, or his master killed, a samurai was required to seek out and kill those responsible. One of the most famous samurai stories, "The 47 Ronin," or masterless samurai, is a tale of traditional samurai vengeance. During a period of peace, their lord was ordered to commit seppuku because of an altercation with another lord. Two years later, all 47 samurai invaded the lord's castle and killed him. They were arrested and forced to commit seppuku, not because they had fulfilled their duty of vengeance (this was expected), but because they had done it with a secret attack, which was considered dishonorable.
“Do nothing that is of no use”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings
“A thousand days of training to develop, ten thousand days of training to polish. You must examine all this well.”
“In the strategy of my school, keep your body and mind straight and make your opponent go through contortions and twist about. The essence is to defeat him in the moment when, in his mind, he is pivoting and twisting. You should examine this well.”
“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
“If you are not progressing along the true way, a slight twist in the mind can become a major twist. This must be pondered well.”
“Never stray from the Way.”
“Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.”
“Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken. Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit.”
“When your opponent is hurrying recklessly, you must act contrarily and keep calm. You must not be influenced by the opponent.”
“Nobody is strong and nobody is weak if he conceives of the body, from the head to the sole of the foot, as a unity in which a living mind circulates everywhere equally.”
“No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible”
“It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.”
“You can only fight the way you practice”
“Do not regret what you have done”
“If you do not control the enemy, the enemy will control you”
“The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win”
“from one thing, know ten thousand things”
“When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy...attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.”
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
"Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men."
“there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.” “You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain”
“All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them”
“Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help”
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