"Instead of buying your children..."

 Did Bruce Lee say a quote that starts with "To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts"? 

Introduction 

Another Bruce Lee "quote" appeared on my radar today. In full it reads (as shown in the image at top):

"Instead of buying your children all the things you never had, you should teach them all the things you were never taught. Material wears out, but knowledge stays."

This didn't sound like Bruce Lee to me, especially because Bruce Lee had a definite materialist side to his personality. (Check out the clothing, houses and cars he bought.) I also expect he would have given his kids whatever they wanted, since he was a loving father. This is not incompatible with providing "knowledge," but I wanted to check out this quote anyway.

The Sources

I checked my tier zero sources as explained in the recent Martial History Team post The Bruce Lee Library and More. I found plenty of writing by Mr. Lee that mentioned family and children, so I assessed that relevant material had already been collected. I did some searches of my tier one sources as well.

Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living

 

For example, the following appears in the section titled On Raising Children in Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living (1 Apr 2000). 

"The highest standards of conduct. - Through all [my children's] education will run the Confucianist philosophy that the highest standards of conduct consist of treating others as you wish to be treated, plus loyalty, intelligence, and the fullest development of the individual in the five chief relationships of life: government and those who are governed, father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend. Equipped in that way, I don't think [they] can go far wrong.

Never strike a child. - My father never struck me - though my mother sometimes spanked me good! - and I'm not planning to strike [my children]. I think a father can control the situation by swinging with it.

Disciplining children. - I will play with my [children] and joke with my [children], but business is business. When the subject is a serious one, you don't go around trying to keep from hurting [their] feelings. You say what must be said and set the rules which must be set without worrying about whether [they] like it or not.

You are judged by your acts. - If you make an ass out of yourself, there'll always be someone ready to ride you. Showing off is the fool's idea of glory."

The earlier section titled On Marriage also mentions children:

"Marriage is caring for children. -Marriage is caring for children, watching over them in sickness, training them in the way they must go, sharing worry about them and pride in them."

While these are all worthy sentiments, none of them resembles the "quote" in question.

Other Leads

Surbhi Upadhyah?

I can't turn to the conclusion without mentioning a few other possible sources. However, I doubt either is legitimate.

The first is an appearance of the same quote by someone named Surbhi Upadhyah. I cannot completely rule out this source, but I did not find any corroborating evidence.

Tupac Shakur?

I also found this quote attributed to Tupac Shakur. Again, I cannot completely rule out this source, but I did not find any corroborating evidence.

Conclusion

There is no evidence that Bruce Lee created this quote. Some preliminary searches indicate it is fairly recent, perhaps appearing in the last ten years or so. It's popular on social media with many different versions. However, at this point it appears to have nothing to do with Bruce Lee. 

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