55+ Best Archery Quotes That Hit The Target

The word Archery is derived from the Latin word 'arcus' which means bow.

Archery historically has been used as a means for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mostly a competitive sport and recreational activity affordable for everyone.

Archery is an art and sport that uses the skill of shooting arrows using bows. The oldest known proof of archery is dated to be around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago found on the South African site of Sibudu Caves.

Archery was best known to be used during medieval times as a means to wage war from a distance.

‘Archeress’ has been used to address female archers, but nowadays the preferred term is simply ‘archer’. With the invention of firearms, things like bows soon lost all their purposes, and Archers had to switch to firearms.

Archery requires precision skills as well as focus, repetition, and determination. It has served as a past time activity in developed as well as developing countries all across the world.

Archery has featured in Hollywood blockbusters such as 'The Lord Of The Rings' trilogy, 'The Hunger Games', and 'Avengers', it has also been a part of the small screen with shows like 'Arrow' starring Stephen Amell.

Feel free to share these quotes with your friends and family! For more related content, take a look at  Arrow quotes and Robin Hood quotes.

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Quotes About Archery

Grab that bow and arrow and let these quotes inspire you and your friends to pick up archery as a hobby!

1. “You have to relax when you’re shooting an arrow. You can’t be tense. And that just helps, in your day-to-day life.”

— Stephen Amell.

2. “So long as the new moon returns in heaven a bent, beautiful bow, so long will the fascination of archery keep hold in the hearts of men.”

— Maurice Thompson, ‘The Witchery Of Archery’.

3. “Archery, with its distinctive arrows and targets, divides into subdomains. Thus, competitive archery differs importantly from archery hunting.”

— Ernest Sosa, '3AM Magazine'.

4. “In archery, we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns around and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”

— Confucius.

5. “The main thing about archery is a battle with yourself. You can ruin it all. Once you have learned the technique, the point is to re-create the perfect technique over and over and over.”

— Geena Davis.

6. “Archery was just something that we did as a father/daughter activity, and it just kind of grew out of that, really.”

— Miranda Leek.

7. “In piano, if you try to force hitting this key and that key, it’s very broken. It’s not pretty. When you’re in archery, you can’t try to force it step-by-step-by-step. Then the shot doesn’t flow and it’s not a good shot. If you just let the performance flow, it’s really beautiful.”

— Miranda Leek.

8. “Nothing clears a troubled mind better than shooting a bow.”

— Fred Bear.

9. “If you would hit the mark at long range, you must aim a little above it: every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

10. “Our mental discipline is matched only by our skill in archery... I only hope these are enough to withstand this awful trial.”

— Stieg Hedlund.

11. “Archery does not get difficult or hard to understand until the arrow misses.”

— Milan E. Elott.

12. “Archery requires very sensitive muscles.”

— Im Dong-Hyun.

13. “There is no excellence in archery without great labor.”

— Maurice Thompson.

14. “In competitive archery, risk assessment has minimal bearing on quality of performance, since the archer has so little choice over shot selection. By contrast, in a hunt, shots vary in quality according to how well selected they may be.”

— Ernest Sosa.

15. “In an archery contest, when the stakes are earthenware tiles a contestant shoots with skill. When the stakes are belt buckles he becomes hesitant, and if the stakes are pure gold he becomes nervous and confused. There is no difference as to his skill.”

— Zhuangzi.

16. “Archery is not a sport for everyone. The equipment costs a lot, and it is not easy for everyone to find a place to play. It is perhaps similar to golf, but of course there are more golf courses than archery fields.”

— Im Dong-Hyun.

17. “The main concept about archery is a battle with yourself. You can ruin it all. Once you have learned the technique, the point is to recreate the perfect technique over and over and over.”

— Geena Davis.

18. “The only thing that relaxes me is archery. That's why I have to have apartments with gardens.”

— Paulo Coelho.

19. “I shoot an arrow into the air, where it lands I do not care: I get my arrows wholesale!”

— Curly Howard.

20. “With archery, if you have good gear, you can’t blame being bad on anyone but yourself.”

— Brad Leone.

21. “Archery is something that I took up later and didn't know I had a natural aptitude for.”

— Geena Davis.

22. “Our ancestors used the bow for a double purpose: in the time war, it was a dreadful instrument of destruction; and in peace, it became an object of amusement.”

— Joseph Strutt.

23. “My dad keeps referring to me playing the piano when he's trying to teach me something in archery.”

— Miranda Leek.

Philosophical Archery Quotes

Some great philosophical quotes coming from famous people like Maurice Thompson and Thomas Fuller.

24. “A good archer is known not by his arrows but by his aim.”

— Thomas Fuller.

25. “The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.”

— Sebastien de Castell, ‘Traitor's Blade’.

26. “The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede.”

— Eugen Herrigel.

27. “But you must be patient and careful; nor should you expect to become an accomplished archer without long and severe training.”

— Maurice Thompson, ‘The Witchery Of Archery’.

28. “The way to write is to throw your body at the mark when all your arrows are spent.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson.

29. “It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.”

— Aristotle.

30. “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”

— Kahlil Gibran.

31. “I taught him archery every day, and when he got good at it he threw an arrow at me.”

— Arabic Proverb.

32. “An arrow is never afraid of shooting from the bow; but it is afraid of not reaching the target!”

— Mehmet Murat İldan.

33. “Fundamentally the marksman aims at himself.”

— D.T. Suzuki.

34. “No person learned the art of archery from me, who did not, in the end, make me his target.”

— Saadi Shirazi.

35. “Other archers are not my competition. I stand with them, not against them.”

— Unknown*.

36. “The right art is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede.”

— D.T. Suzuki.

37. “If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ‘Elegiac Verse’.

38. “Wabi means spare, impoverished; simple and functional. It connotes a transcendence of fad and fashion. The spirit of wabi imbues all the Zen arts, from calligraphy to karate, from the tea ceremony to Zen archery.”

— Shunryu Suzuki.

39. “It’s basic research: shoot an arrow in the air. Where it lands, paint a bullseye.”

— Elizabeth Streb.

40. “If you don’t have a target to aim for you are going to miss it anyway.”

— Clifford Aga.

41. “Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it, but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.”

— Joel Hawes.

42. “The archer that shoots badly has a lie ready.”

— Spanish Proverb.

43. “The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.”

— Kahlil Gibran.

44. “In the long run, you only hit what you aim at.”

— Henry Thoreau.

45. “The superior man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in an archery match, wherein he ascends to his position, bowing in deference. Descending, he drinks the ritual cup.”

— Confucius.

Bow And Arrow Quotes

Archery Bows are of four types: Recurve, Longbow, Compound, and Crossbow. Inspire yourself with these great bow and arrow sayings that help you in figuring things out about archery.

46. “I did archery when I was in high school. In our gym class, we had two weeks of archery, and I remember taking the bow and arrow and firing it up and across the street into a car parking lot.”

—  John Barrowman.

47. “I'm not sure why anyone on the face of the planet would want to use a bow and arrow. I mean, it seems like a fairly limited field of expertise and usefulness. Unless your name is Katniss.”

— Andrea Portes.

48. “If you understand the point of practice, then even without a bow and arrow the archery will help you. How you get that kind of power or ability is only through right practice.”

— Shunryu Suzuki.

49. “I have been practicing archery for a long time; a bow and arrow helps me to unwind.”

— Paulo Coelho.

50. “I do love archery in my day-to-day life because I find it very therapeutic, and I've trained every season with the bow and arrow.”

— Rose Leslie.

51. “The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind.”

— Fred Bear.

'Zen In The Art Of Archery' Quotes

Best Archery sayings and quotes along with some great comments from the book ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’ by Eugen Herrigel published in 1948.

52. “The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise.”

— Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

53. “What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.”

― Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

54. “You worry yourself unnecessarily. Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind!”

― Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’..

55. “The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You do not wait for fulfillment, but brace yourself for failure.”

― Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

56. “How far the pupil will go is not the concern of the teacher and Master. Hardly has he shown him the right way when he must let him go on alone.”

― Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

57. “Archery is still a matter of life and death to the extent that it is a contest of the archer with himself.”

― Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

58. “In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.”

— Eugen Herrigel, ‘Zen In The Art Of Archery’.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for archery quotes that hit the target, then why not take a look at Treebeard quotes, or Tyrion Lannister quotes?

 *Do you know where this quote originated? Please email us to let us know at hello@kidadl.com

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