❝ We need to be in the actual life, the real life, because capoeira is fundamentally about the roda of life. ❝
❝ My message is that they have to embrace capoeira with all their themselves. The more you devote to capoeira, the more capoeira will return to you. ❝
❝ Capoeira is a game, it's a dance, it's a fight, it's an art. It's all of that mixed together, and it's not just to show off to others, it's to know oneself. ❝
❝ Life is a struggle? Life is a battle? The player sees that capoeira is teaching him to dance within and during this fight. ❝
❝ …Capoeira can be a tool in the First World, a tool against the forces that tend to turn people into robots that do not think, do not wish, do not have any fantasies, ideals, imagination or creativity; a tool against a civilisation that increasingly says one simply has to work and then go home and sit in front of a TV with a can of beer in hand, like a pig being fattened for the slaughterhouse. ❝
❝ Na roda de capoeira, [In the capoeira roda] Grande e pequeno sou eu. [Both great and small am I] ❝
❝ Capoeira e para homen, menino e mulher, so nao aprende quem nao quiser. [Capoeira is for men, women and children; the only ones who don’t learn it are those are those who don’t wish to.] ❝
❝ The impossibility of one person completely capturing capoeira, yet its potential to be touched by anyone are part of the balance of power and beauty of this magical art. ❝
❝ The flame of this beautiful art is now in your hands. You can dampen it, you can burn yourself or your brothers and sisters, or, afraid of its heat, you can let go of it. I hope that you take good care of your capoeira and kindle this fire alive and powerful, enlightening your life. ❝
❝ Do not be afraid to get close to your opponent. The closer you are, the more you will learn. ❝
❝ Quem aguenta tempestade e rochedo. [Only cliffs face the tempest] ❝
❝ Today capoeira is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Only here in my school this year I have already graduated 20 capoeiristas that are teaching outside Brazil. Other groups are also growing around the world, capoeiristas travel with their berimbaus, their poems, and capoeira shows them the way. Capoeira brings them places, it gives them confidence. Capoeiristas don’t make capoeira, quite opposite: it is capoeira that makes capoeiristas. And if you make mistakes, sooner or later capoeira will make you pay for them. ❝
❝ Tu tens problema em casa, nao vem resolver aqui..! [If you have a problem at home, don’t come here (to the roda) to solve it..!] ❝
