Through swimming, I wanted to reclaim our pride as Japanese people.

日本人も世界に通用することを証明したかった

攻撃を一点に集約せよ、無駄な事はするな。

-- The revolutionary warlord who dismantled feudal Japan's medieval order and launched the country toward unification

I shall dedicate myself utterly, giving everything until death claims me.

-- The legendary chancellor and military strategist of the Shu Han kingdom during China's Three Kingdoms period

凡兵之道莫過乎一。一者能独往独来。

-- A 4th-century BCE Chinese general and military the

Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments.

-- The Prussian king whose oblique order and disciplined army made a small northern kingdom into a European great power

No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.

-- Britain's greatest naval hero

Pursue one great decisive aim with force and determination.

-- The Prussian military theorist whose 'On War' became the most influential work of strategic theory in Western history